The Petals of Time
by Jin Rummy
Summary: The wheels of time turn as fate collides with history, fifty years after team RWBY's time at Beacon. Ruby finds herself in the role of headmistress, and her faithful student Summer Rose's whole world is shattered as the future lay in ruin. With only her mentors cryptic words to guide her Summer must travel to the past, and combat destiny as the course of history is changed forever
1. Kindly Scattered Through Time

**Chapter one: Kindly Scattered Through Time.**

All of Vale was burning its citizens running through the streets in panic. All in an attempt to escape the blazing buildings as the fires consumed them or to escape the guttural roars that echoed throughout the city. These roars were not ones that accompanied the creatures of Grimm, no they were something more primal, and more dangerous than anyone could ever imagine. The very earth would open its maw and consume citizens, and entire buildings alike without distinction with every quake more of the once proud city of Vale would fall into bottomless gullet of the earth. The large buildings of stone, and metal that would dot the city crumbled into dust, and debris crushing the many buildings around them. Those lucky enough not to meet their end were soon absorbed by the spittle of magma that would rise out from the deep fissures.

What the quakes had not destroyed the hell fire seemed fit to burn it down. It fell from the sky like rain igniting everything in its path, and sending clouds of smoke billowing into the air. The dust, and ash eclipsed the sun, and covered the entirety of the sky which was no longer a serene blue but as red as blood. Roars, and shouts of thunder emitted from the storm clouds circling the city like carrion waiting for their prey to die. The remaining citizens ran to and fro for cover desperately trying to stay out of harm's way, but as the city crumbled around them they knew it was futile, and in their minds they knew one thing it was the end.

When it all began many had tried to escape in Bullheads, but the treacherous sky was not allowing its territory to be encroached upon, and smite them back down the earth. Other desperate souls tried to make it past the wall, but the earth shook that was the first quake to signal the end. The wall collapsed crushing all who tried to escape, and creating an impassable barrier for the surviving citizens of Vale. Their flight for survival would have proven useless in the long run for all across the world the elements turned upon civilization, and brought ruin upon the world's denizens. Those still surviving all knew one thing, and it was the end of the very world they had come to inhabit all vanishing in the blink of an eye.

* * *

Summer Rose watched in abject horror from the docks of Beacon as the world around her began to collapse in on itself in front of her she watched as a fireball slammed into a large building that towered over Vale's financial district. Any of the recognizable buildings below it were buried by the ash, and brimstone. The ash fell like snowflakes during the first snowfall of winter, devouring the buildings of Vale, defacing the many monuments that symbolized a free world void of conflict, and strangling the life out the once proud city of Vale.

The wind began to pick up, and worked to tear the hood of Summer's head the cloak the hood is attached to billowing and flapping erratically in the wind. She had to squint her eyes in order to avoid having the ash blind her, a handkerchief was wrapped tightly around the lower portion of her face so she can breath somewhat with ease. The rest of her clothing including the white cloak that adorned her was stained with the dust, and ash that floated through the air.

Even though it was happening in front of her very eyes she couldn't believe that this was happening. Yesterday had been just like any normal day of hers fraught with training with her mentor, just like the day before it. The morning of this day had started out normal as any other like any normal morning. Then the clouds began to fill the clear skies, and fire rained down upon the world. From there the world began to spiral into chaos. It felt like a nightmare that Summer was unable to wake up from.

The earth began to rumble once more the distant roars that followed now sounded much closer than they had before. reacting on her instincts Summer stumbled away from the docks in order to prevent herself from toppling over the edge. As the tremors continued Summer could hear the dorms that lay off to her left collapse in on themselves in a torrent of noise and dust. The sound of the falling stone, and screams of those that were crushed in from the wreckage rang in her ears looking behind her the sight of a young man with half of his body crushed under the wreckage crawled into her mind, and burned the sight into her visage. Pellets of stone from the building rained down on her, and causing small cuts on her arms before they quickly disappearing due to her aura.

She stumbled further away from the docks as the walkway in front of her reared up like a wild horse, and tore itself away from the cliff side of Beacon creating another maw for the earth to devour the city. More plumes of dust rose into the air as another building collapsed in the city. The tremors grew worse, and her teeth began to rattle from the intensity of them. a loud earsplitting roar reverberated through the air, in her peripheral vision Summer saw a large fountain of magma shoot into the air, off in the distance. She turned her head completely, and regretted it immediately as she bore witness to flood of magma consume the residential district of Vale, and its surrounding landscape turning it all to ash in the manner of seconds.

Tears fell from Summer's eyes as she slid down to the ground on her knees. Her entire world was falling apart around her, and there is nothing she can do about it. She had never felt so useless in her life or felt a crippling despair of her impending doom. Turning her head back to the school she looked up into the sky, and saw that the pillar of light continued to shoot up from behind Beacon. The beam had appeared around the same time the clouds, and hell fire had, where it had continuously pulsed a dark essence. That reminded Summer of the time her mentor showed her a video of that Grimm dragon that had dark spheres falling off of it, and creating more Grimm. Many of the people at Beacon have deduced that was where the suffering all began, and they sent a team of hunters to investigate the beam. One of those hunters was the headmistress of Beacon herself, but they haven't reported in yet which left Summer, and the remaining populace of Beacon worried.

"Please Professor," Summer breathed out in a shaky voice "Come back soon, and end this madness."

A small portion of her prayer was answered when a Bullhead coming from the direction of the beam crashed into the courtyard creating a large furrow in the ground, a crunch of metal could be heard reverberating through the air causing Summer to scream with worry about the crashed ships occupants. The young girl quickly stood up, and ran towards the downed Bullhead just as another earthquake rocked the world taking off the part of the cliff she had been sitting on the moment prior. She tried stopped in her tracks for a second, and stared at the spot she was sitting trying not to ponder how close she had come to death.

Summer hurried across the the courtyard which like the city looked like a cruel mockery of its former self, the large pillars that decorated the courtyard had collapsed, and dug large holes into the ground. The statue with the hunters standing over the Beowolf had been crushed by the debris from one of the pillars all around the courtyard the ground had splintered creating jagged spikes in the once smooth ground. Buildings all over Beacon had collapsed in on themselves its former occupant's crushed in the rubble. The Bullhead had landed by the doors to the orientation hall blocking any, and all access to the building, the Bullhead had jagged gouges in its hull one of the doors on the side had been torn completely off in the crash.

Running up to the demolished husk of the Bullhead Summer shouted out. "Hello i-is anyone okay," Summer cried out " P-professor are y-you alright?" Summer went to enter the Bullhead, but saw a hand emerge from the side, and a figure covered in red stumble out of the Bullhead before collapsing to its knees. A high pitched whining sound began to emit from the Bullhead reacting quickly Summer gripped the red figure, and dragged them away from the Bullhead still too close to it they were caught in the explosion, and thrown a small distance Summer let herself take the brunt of the collision to prevent any further injuries on the red clad figure. Summer cried out in pain as she collided with ground, and began to tumble across it.

Her cries of pain stirred the red figure from her unconscious state "We failed didn't we." It was said as more of a statement than a question.

Summer jumped in surprise as the figure spoke thinking she was still unconscious. Looking down on the figure she choked up unable to reply she merely just nodded her head.

Tears began to slide down the figures grime covered face "I failed it was my duty as the headmistress of Beacon to protect everyone, and I failed to stop that abomination." She said in raspy voice.

Summer quickly shook her head causing her cloak to flap around even more "Professor Rose you didn't fail anyone we can still stop whatever is happening, and protect the people of Remnant."

Professor Rose cracked open her eyes, righting herself so that she was on her hands, and knees. "Summer, my young student that optimism is one of your most admirable traits it reminds me of how I used to be when I was your age, but you must listen closely Summer I can't stop what is happening, but you can, you can save this world."

Summer stared at the headmistress of Beacon as if she had sprouted a second head. Beneath the handkerchief that covered her face her mouth flopped open, and close working furiously to form a sentence. "Me?" She asked in disbelief at what she had heard "Why only me? H-how? I'm not even enrolled into signal academy yet. Wouldn't one of your Beacon students be better? How could I possibly stop this?" Behind them a volley of fireballs crashed into the ruined city causing her to flinch in fear. "C-can't you come with me? W-we can save the world together, and then everything can go back to normal. I-I don't think I can do this alone Professor I need your help, your guidance I always do."

Professor Rose slowly reached out her hand towards Summer, Summer looked back at the professor their eyes met once again, and Professor Rose spoke in a low, and weary voice. "I can't join you Summer. The path that you have to walk is one that I can't follow you down, but you underestimate yourself, you're strong, stronger than you can possibly imagine, you're definitely stronger than any average student at Beacon, you are my apprentice after all, and never lose faith Summer I know you won't fail. I believe in you."

Summer took her mentor's hand a small comfort in this world wrought with chaos, but one that is welcome nonetheless. Her thoughts raced around her mind faster than bullets, her heart pounded like a thousand tiny hammers trying to wrap her mind around the situation. Her world was ending, but her mentor Professor Rose was saying there was a way to save it. there was one flaw in this plan, and it was that she, Summer had to do it.

The white cloaked child was definitely sure she would fail the task she was given. Sure she was strong- Professor Rose had called her "One of the most talented huntresses at her age, and that she hasn't even entered a combat school yet." quite often to be comfortable, but saving the world was entirely different she was just a young child finally able to enroll in a combat school.

In the distance Summer heard another building collapse, and someone scream in pain before falling silent. 'If we don't do anything everyone is going to die like that, Summer realized. If I just sit here, and don't do anything then the entire world will crumble apart, and I will have failed my job as a huntress before it even began. A steel resolve formed in Summer's heart. She had to try! If her mentor believed she could do it, then she would damn well try to do her best or die trying! Not just for her, but for the entire world of Remnant!

She took a deep shuddering breath to calm her nerves "What do I need to do Professor?"

A warm, and encouraging smile enveloped Professor Rose's face "Inside the tower on my desk is a small hourglass, a friend of mine before they died used their semblance on it to allow a user with a noble heart,- and a righteous cause to travel back in time." She paused for a brief moment to let out a harsh cough, blood began to leak out the corners of her mouth. She ignored this in favor of continuing her instructions. "I believe that you have the heart to travel back in time you must travel back fifty years from now that is when the path to this hell began. If only we had worked harder, if only we had stopped them when we had the chance… None of this would have happened." A pleading look grew on Professor Rose's face "Follow the White Fang, protect the seasons." She was cut off by a fit of coughing each cough sounding worse than the last. Loud rumbling began to fill the air around them "Whatever happens Summer keep moving forward one step after another no matter how hard it gets, and don't blame yourself." Her voice raised over the growing din.

Professor Rose readjusted herself so that she was on one knee, one hand reached behind her before removing itself from behind her cloak. In her hand was a small sword the blade was dark grey in color, and it had two white stripes next to the hilt. Summer's eyes wandered over the small double edged katana like blade before locking onto a familiar emblem that looked strikingly similar to a belladonna lily. Professor Rose looked at the sword with a small melancholic smile before placing it into Summer's palm, where she then clasped her fingers tightly around the hilt before letting go "This used to belong to a friend of mine before she died, I think she would be happy if you were to take it. However I do have one last thing to say to you Summer, from here on out I am no longer your mentor. So when you get to the past I want you to learn as much as you can and become the great Huntress I know you can be, and no matter what I will always be proud of you."

Summer took the offered sword, and around them the wind began to roar as it grew into a tempest. The cloaks both she, and Ruby wore began to flap even harder in wind around them small dust storms created from the ash floating in the air began to form. Lightning began to streak out from the cloud cover that enveloped the sky.

The beam of dark energy began to project even more dark energy as it pulsed faster than the heart of a hummingbird. From that direction a malevolent laugh echoed for all the world to hear causing shivers to run throughout Summer's whole body. Ruby's eyes widened, and she released her young apprentices hand, "You have to go now Summer, this is the part you are most likely going to hate you need to climb up the tower to my office. just like the time I had you practice your strength, and dexterity follow the same course, and you will make it I believe in you Summer I know you can do it!" She urged with more blood spilling out of her mouth.

"But Pro-" Summer was cut off by the malevolent laughter that sounded closer than ever.

"Little Rose! Little Rose! look at your peaceful world now! I gave you a chance to help me save it years ago, and you spurned me now look at where your efforts have taken you!" A figure shrouded in shadow emerged from one of the fallen archways "Oh! is this where you have been hiding, and you seem to have a guest, no matter we have a lot to discuss you, and I!" The figure shouted out

Ruby quickly stood up unfolding her scythe "Go Summer before it's too late I'll hold her off," she paused before turning her head towards Summer, and said quietly in a saddened voice "And forgive me you were like a daughter to me, and I am glad to have met you." she then turned towards the shadow women, and launched towards her where they clashed at inhuman speeds.

"Professor!" Summer screamed in fear for her mentor, the figure laughed at her opponent's attempts to defeat her. Summer held hopes that her mentor would succeed, and that she wouldn't need to go into the past. Shaking her head Summer ran through the courtyard jumping over fallen debris. She reached the course used to climb the tower, and began to climb the sounds of the victims screaming, and the blood flowing from Ruby's mouth played through her mind as she climbed. She tried to drown out those images by repeatedly chanting in her mind. Climb the tower, and get to the hourglass, climb the tower, and get to the hourglass. This mantra repeated over, and over in her mind.

She was torn from her thoughts when the earth began to shake once more, along with it the tower began to shake. The portion of the climbing course she was on began to groan parts below her began to tear away quickly Summer scrambled over to the other side of the course. In the process she lost her grip with one hand, and saw the ongoing battle between the shadow figure, and Professor Rose. The Professor was on one knee her faithful weapon that has been with her since the beginning of her adventures was torn into two pieces off to the side of the battle. From where Summer was she could hear the shadow figures malevolent laughter as she slowly stalked up to her mentor. Looking away Summer fixed her grip, and resumed her climb to the top of the tower her breath came out in pants as her oxygen was slowly replaced by the ash floating all around her.

Above her Summer heard a crack, and a part of the tower came toppling towards. She yelped, and jumped up diagonally across the course narrowly avoiding death. As she climbed her thoughts began to stray towards what would have happened if she failed to make the jump, a vision began to fill her mind of her beneath the debris the only visible aspect of her would be her arm reaching out for help. She shook her head of these dark thoughts, and resumed her climb, sweat pouring from her face from the extreme heats around her, and from her exertion. Summer flinched as a ball of fire streaked by her missing by only a few feet she can feel the extreme heat radiating off of the flaming projectile. Acting only to increase the feeling of being in a volcano.

Reaching up once more Summer felt her hand grip the edge of the outcropping leading into mentor's office. She quickly pulled herself up, and spared a quick glance towards the ground, and she saw her mentor being being suspended in the air by the shadow figure as they exchanged words slowly the figure's shadow slithered up to her mentor, and ran itself through her chest. Stumbling back, and falling onto the ground in shock. She let tears fall down her face before she steeled her resolve once more vowing to mourn over her fallen mentor when she arrived in the past. Summer slowly stood up, and made her way towards the shattered window, and crawled through it. She saw her mentor's desk sitting there seemingly untouched, like the Professor had said the hourglass sat upon her desk. Like an android or a robot Summer's own movements felt mechanical to her as if she wasn't in control of her body.

Summer drew closer to the hourglass, and reached out for it, when her hand touched it she felt like a jolt of electricity had just run through her body. Summer whispered to herself recounting her mentor's instructions "Okay Professor Rose said those with a noble heart, and a righteous cause can use the hourglass," Summer closed her eyes, and flipped the hourglass over listening to the sands as they fell "Okay hourglass please send me fifty years into the past so I can save the future, and the people of Remnant." Summer expecting something to happen like a big flash of light, but as she opened her eyes, and a cursory glance around her surroundings. She noticed that nothing had changed she was still in a Remnant rife with chaos, and destruction everyone she had grown to know had been killed by this sudden Armageddon. She hung her head in self doubt, and defeat before asking herself "Was the Professor wrong about me? Was my heart not noble enough? Was my cause to selfish? Was this a way for her to prolong the inevitable to give me a few more precious moments of life."

She was torn from her revery as cracks began to spiderweb along the walls of the tower before it began to tilt. A feeling of weightlessness settled itself in her stomach as she tumbled out of the office, and into the open air screaming towards a sea of magma that covered the once proud city of Vale completely. The ash had began to sting her eyes as the wind rushed passed her, through her distorted vision she could see that the tower had completely detached itself from the school. As she fell she relinquished her hold on the hourglass, and she saw it falling below her towards the sea of magma. One thought flew through her mind in her free fall. Was to get the hourglass! that single thought urged her forward get the hourglass, and stop this from ever happening that way no else has to live through this pain. Off to her right she saw another geyser of magma shoot up into the air. She tucked in all of her limbs turning her free fall into a nosedive the debris from the tower shot by her as her speed increased. A few feet in front of her was the salvation for the people of Remnant, it was falling next to a battered picture frame that used to call her mentor's desk home.

she was just a fingers length away, and she reached out to grab the hourglass, just before she made contact with it a small piece of debris crashed into her arm sending it, and her off course from her goal. She quickly readjusted herself "I will not fail! I promised the Professor, and the people of Remnant that I would save them, and I never go back on a promise!" Summer shouted out to encourage herself. once again tucking her limbs in she fell into a nosedive once more. As she fell she could hear the malevolent laughter of the shadow figure that had taken the life of her mentor, and Summer was sure that the laughter would forever haunt her in her dreams.

She drew close once more to the hourglass, and reached her arms out to grab it "Come on!" She shouted urging herself to move faster, and just a little bit farther. As she grew closer to the sea of lava she could see sparks fly off of the surface. "Come on! Just a little bit more I will get this hourglass, and I will save the people of Remnant even if I must give up my life in the process! So please to whatever god is listening just a little bit more!" She grit her teeth in concentration her hand just mere inches from one of the handles. Her eyes darted around from the sea of lava that lay beneath her sparks flying off of the surface as if they were tongues licking lips in preparation for a good meal. to the small hourglass that lay before her.

With one final thrust through the air she latched onto the falling timepiece, and yanked it towards her chest, shouting out, "Fifty years! Please, take me back fifty years, so I can stop this from happening, and save the people of Remnant so I can give them a bright future! Please send me back I promise to make sure that this will never happen again even if I have to give up my life for this reality to be achieved!" she flipped the hourglass over waiting with bated breath as the hissing magma prepared for its latest meal.

She feared that once again the hourglass had deemed her heart not noble enough, and her cause not righteous enough, that she as a whole was not worthy enough to use it, and would meet the fate of her mentor, no the fate of everyone on Remnant. Then all of the sand shot up to the top of the hourglass before releasing fifty beads of sand that dropped to the bottom. Summer felt the world around her slow down to a crawl. The tempest of wind dulled to a breeze before disappearing entirely. All of the sound that had surrounded her for the past couple of hours had died away, leaving a familiar ring of silence in her ears that she had grown to have missed in recent events.

Around her the entire world drained of color until all that was left were black, and white, before freezing in place. Summer floated suspended in space, the only speck of color amongst the monochrome background with her ash, and grime stained white cloak, and black combat skirt that also counted as a corset. The stone that had fallen from the tower lay frozen in place the smoke, and fire that burned stood immobile. As if someone had paused a movie they had been watching, all of this halted by the sudden stoppage of time. She looked down, and saw a spout of magma just mere inches away from her legs.

The only source of noise in the silent landscape was Summer's rapidly beating heart which she listened to as it slowly calmed down. She felt as if she was suffocating, and took a long deep breath she was surprised when she inhaled clean air for the first time in hours instead of the stale air tinged with ash as she had originally thought. With her sudden breath of life it seemed as if everything around her had been set into motion. A ticking sound reverberated through her ears, as if a clock was winding backwards. The remains of the tower that had been falling with her began to move in reverse traveling back to their point of origin. Instead of following it as she had originally thought she began to slowly descend to the ground below her which was now void of any magma that used to cover it. She watched as trees burned in reverse, she saw herself, and her mentor sitting by a tree on one of their walks through the emerald forest.

As time began to speed up she saw other students walk by her sometimes these students were fighting Grimm other times they were relaxing. She knew time was regressing as she saw the moon, and the sun traveling in reverse. She knew she was getting closer when she saw a younger version of her mentor sitting under the same tree they usually sat under when they finished training in the forest. After what seemed like only a few seconds the world around her began to slow down, and color began to fill in the monochrome landscape, followed by sound. Around her Summer could hear birds chirping inviting them to play or to mate with each other. Her mind swam as she tried to adjust to the rapid movement in time. As she regained feeling in her legs she walked over to the tree that she and her mentor would sit under, and let her legs collapse under her letting her sprawl onto her back, and let herself look up into the beautiful blue sky, and gaze out across the horizon at the radiant sun that she had missed in the few hours of Armageddon. A cool breeze caressed her overheated body as she lay their, around her she could see the animals that lived in this forest run around in the branches of the trees playing with each other or hunting each other.

In this calm a knot of feeling began to form in her stomach as she finally took everything in. She had just seen her world end, she had seen her mentor, and many others die around her, She had seen her world molested by fire torn asunder by the rage of the earth. Yet, here it hadn't happened yet. The world was safe for another fifty years unless she stopped whoever caused the world to end, and for Professor Rose, and all of the people of Remnant to die, no not every one she was still there the sole survivor of ruined future. Watching birds fly above, and squirrels jump from branch to branch, Summer could hardly believe that she had seen it. She had so badly wished it was just a nightmare that she was having trouble waking up from, but the hourglass, and her ash covered body proved it all.

From her silent rumination a grin appeared on her face "I did it!" She burst into a fit of uncontrolled laughter as the situation finally set in "I, I did it! I actually did it, I traveled back in time!" She slowly stood up, and twirled in victory, no one had ever traveled back in time before. The closest someone has come to time travel was a semblance that granted them access to a view of almost any possible future caused by their actions. If this was someone's Semblance powering this hourglass why didn't anyone talk about this wonder semblance? Was the user only able to do this once?

She stopped her twirling, and took a deep calming breath "Alright Summer you did it, you made it to the past. Now you need to make do on your promise, and save the future." She gave out a nervous laugh "This shouldn't be to hard right? All I need to do is follow the White Fang, and protect the seasons whatever she means by that. Piece of cake right? I mean how hard can it be?"

She paused in her tirade, she had heard of the White Fang before they used to be a group that fought for Faunus equality, but what could the Professor mean by protecting the seasons why does she have to be so cryptic, and vague. "Alright Summer you can do this. J-just don't panic, you just have to think." She looked at the forest surrounding her, and asked though not expecting an answer "You wouldn't happen to have any idea on the whole protecting the seasons thing would you?" she shook her head "Of course the forest wouldn't Summer get yourself together, let's just head into Vale, and see if we can get any information from there." She said before setting of towards the city.

"Well fifty years in the past, some unknown part of my quest to save the future, and today is the day I can finally enroll into Signal Academy. I wonder how different things are from my time, are the customs different, oh no how do kids my age talk in this time what if I say something from my time that they don't know, and they think I am weird?" Summer thought to herself as she walked to Vale "I mean how hard could this be get some information on the White Fang, and stalk after them like Professor Rose after my last strawberry. Then I will stop them from doing whatever they do to set in motion the end of the world, and avoid any, and all contact with kids my age so I don't make a slip, and they think I am weird leaving me without anyone to talk to for the rest of my li-." Summer cut herself off as she put her hood up over head, and walked silently towards the city of Vale.


	2. Left Blooming Alone

**Chapter two: Left Blooming Alone**

 **A/N: So I would like to thank everyone that followed, and favorited Petals of Time it means a lot to me as a new writer on this site. Author's notes will most likely not even make an appearance in any of the chapters unless I need to toss out a disclaimer, and if by chance I need to toss out a lengthy authors note it will usually be found at the bottom of the chapter. Nevertheless I present to you the Petals of Time.**

Vale, Summer had almost forgotten how beautiful the city was. Everywhere she looked she would see people bustling about, and groups of kids spending their last day of freedom before school began for them. As she walked the area slowly began to change around her. Magma started to leak out from every open crevice possible from sewer grates to cracks in the sidewalk. Off to her right a deep furrow had began to carve itself into the ground, Summer closed her eyes in fright and shook her head. "No, it's not real, it can't be real this wasn't supposed to happen yet." She whispered to herself. When she opened her eyes the area had returned back to how it was, the magma had disappeared, and the deep scar in ground was gone replaced by a smooth road. Summer stopped walking, and leaned against a lamppost to recollect her thoughts.

She slid down the pole, and stared up at the blue sky she had oh so missed during those chaotic few hours before the world had ended. _"Look at me,"_ Summer thought to herself. _"I must look like beggar all covered in ash, and grime sitting against this lamppost. To any passerby I must look like I am trying to panhandle for any loose Lien, though it wouldn't really be the first time I've actually had to do that."_ Summer looked at the hourglass laying on its side next to her, she noticed the Rose emblem engraved on the top bulb. The same emblem that Professor Rose wore on her belt, the same one that she had pinned to her cloak, the same one that her mentor had given her. With pretense that someone with the last name Rose should be able to carry their namesake wherever they may go. Engraved on the bottom of the hourglass was the symbol of a sideways figure eight with a golden finish. _"Professor Rose said that if someone's cause is righteous enough, and if their cause is noble enough they can travel back in time; but will I be able to go back, and see her again? Will wanting to return home after this is all said, and done warrant a righteous enough cause? Or will I be stuck in the past for the rest of my life?"_

"Focus on one problem at a time Summer," she murmured to herself. "First find a way to save the world, then you can worry about finding a way home." She stood up, and tucked the hourglass into her hood for safekeeping, and started walking aimlessly through the city of Vale.

A countless amount of people walked by her enjoying the clear, sunny day. Some traveled in pairs others traveled in large groups, carrying shopping bags in their hands, laughing at jokes their friends had told them, talking, and gossiping about the latest news in their group. Summer envied them to a degree. She wanted to go, and walk around Vale with the small group of friends that she had met on a day very much like today while aimlessly wandering Vale. She wanted to eat ice cream with them, and admire the view of the city like she had done, just a few days ago when she had gotten a rare break from training.

It might have been just a few some odd days ago, but to Summer it felt like a whole other lifetime had passed. It's amazing how fast things could change in only just one day. Three days ago she had been practicing with her scythe against training dummies that her mentor had set up in the clearing she had arrived in. While Professor Rose sat under the tree she had dubbed the tree of Roses. She gave hints on how to improve her form, even getting up, and fixing her form herself, from moving a misplaced foot to adjusting an arm that was out of place. Now today, the world had ended, and she was walking in Vale… Fifty years in the past without a shred of an idea of what to do. The more Summer began to think about, the more her head throbbed with the familiar pang of a headache.

Instead of focusing on such things, Summer focused on the scenery around her. Despite being fifty years in the past she recognized some of the buildings around her, and some she had never seen before, yet to Summer it was as if barely anything had changed. Past, and future Vale were similar, but they had some minor distinctions that allowed Summer to differentiate the two. The paved streets, and the structure around her remained the same, even some of the stores she had been to were around.

The people of Vale may have looked different to Summer, but they dressed similar with only the minute change in fashion over the years they even had the same carefree attitudes tinged with hints of fear about the Grimm, and terrorist attacks. The only problem Summer could see in this situation was that these peoples children, and even grandchildren were going to inherit the chaos of a doomed world if she didn't stop it in time.

She found herself standing in front of a fountain in the middle of a shopping plaza. She stopped to look at her reflection for the first time in a long while. She now truly appreciated how dirty she had become in the worlds final moments. Staring back at her were bloodshot silver eyes, her skin, and almost every inch of her clothing was covered in ash, and grime. She saw how crazy her hair looked, it poked out at odd angles, and she couldn't count how much of her hair was singed at its tips. Looking beyond her reflection she saw the stone the fountain was made with wishing that coins were still in Remnant's currency system. From these thoughts it was then that Summer realized a few things. One she was really hungry, another thing was that she had no Lien whatsoever.

As if to mock her for her plight her stomach began to groan. Staring back at her reflection she was tempted to dive into the fountain in order to wash off all of the grime, but she had no wishes to be arrested during her first day in the past or ever really. Summer walked away from the fountain, still not really sure where she was going. She passed many restaurants that tantalized her with very delicious smells coming from them. Her stomach rumbled in displeasure as she passed a sandwich shop that she, and the Professor used to frequent from time to time from the looks of it the shop had recently just opened.

Summer kept walking away from the plaza, and all of the restaurants in order to escape the wonderful aromas surrounding her. As she walked down the streets she could see people walking by give her looks of contempt or just looked away from her in general as she walked by so that their consciences wouldn't hang heavy with the guilt that they didn't help what they perceived to be a dirty, runaway vagrant child that was lost wandering the streets of Vale. Summer wasn't really surprised at their reactions she knew she looked terrible. The buildings around her began to recede as she walked into Vale central park. The park itself was fairly large, a large pond sat in the middle of the park, and out of the way of all the walking trails sat an old birch tree on a small hill. Deciding to take a break from her mindless journey she walked over to the tree, finding shade beneath it.

She set the hourglass down before sprawling onto her back staring up at the sky. She inhaled slowly, and the scent of freshly bloomed flowers, and cut grass greeted her. "Everything here is just so… so peaceful," She closed her eyes, and was greeted with the sight of a burning city, and a malevolent laugh echoing through her head "I will do anything in my power to stop that from ever happening no matter the cost, even if I have to sacrifice my life to do so."

She yawned, the events of the past day catching up with her. Maybe a quick nap would help, when she woke up maybe should would have a better idea of what to do. Right when she closed her eyes she heard footsteps approaching her. She tried to ignore it, but she feel someone's stare burning into her.

She cracked open one eye, and saw a little boy no older than the age of seven wearing a white shirt, and a blue pair of shorts, his amber eyes staring at her inquisitively, she noticed the adorable little dog ears poking above his hair. He continued to stare at her unblinking for a few moments, before Summer worked up the nerve to ask him, "May I help you with anything?"

"What are ya doin?" he asked his voice was squeaky, and loud, but Summer found it adorable nonetheless.

While she really wanted him to leave so she could sleep she answered only to be polite "I'm trying to sleep." hoping the kid would leave with his question answered.

It wasn't good enough "So why are ya sleepin here miss?" he asked

"Because it's really nice, and comfortable right here."

"Why don't you go, and sleep at home then?"

Summer took a deep slow breath in to hold onto her wild feelings "Because it's comfortable right here."

He tilted his head, and asked "Are you a Hobo lady?"

Her head shot up in surprise "What, no I'm not a Hobo! "

"But why are ya so dirty then?"

"Because I've been a little busy with something."

"Busy with what?"

Summer took another deep breath in wondering when she would be able to sleep, and when the volley would end. Unfortunately he jumped to his next question turning his attention towards the hourglass "What's that miss?" pointing to the referred to item.

This time it was Summer's turn to be confused "Wait, you have never seen an hourglass before?"

The boy shook his head as a no "No, what does it do miss?"

Summer looked at it, and said "It helps keep track of time."

"Well why do ya have it miss"

"I like to keep track of time I am a busy person you know."

"Really what kind of person are you that you're so busy?" He asked

"Me?" Summer said pointing to herself, before grinning from ear to ear "I am a huntress."

The boy looked at her with wide eyes "Whoa! Your a huntress, that is so cool!" he exclaimed "I want to be a hunter when I grow up! Oh! Oh! Can you tell me a story?" The kid asked suddenly.

Summer shrugged then enthusiastically nodded "Okay, just one story, I have to go after this." Sitting up she quickly thought of a story that would entertain her young audience. "Once upon a time, there was a small child who lived in the wonderful city of Vale." She turned, and gestured to the entire city with a flourish of her cloak, before resuming her story. "She decided she wanted to be a huntress, like the ones she had read about in all of the stories about heroes. So she grabbed her trusty stick, but if anyone asked it was her trusty training sword." Summer picked up a stick, and brandished it like a knight riding off to battle. "And she decided to go, and vanquish a creature of Grimm so she would be known as a hero like all of the hunters, and huntresses." She stopped her story, and glanced up to the sky, a small wry smile pulled at her lips. "Why she thought that was a good idea I'll never know."

"Anyways," she continued "The young girl left the safety of the city, and ventured into the dreaded Emerald forest." She acted as if she were walking to the forest herself, the stick still brandished in the air. She heard a few gasps along with the young child before her, looking around she noticed she had gathered a small crowd of children, and adults who had been drawn to her storytelling. Summer smiled, and continued her story with even more enthusiasm.

"The young girl had heard the rumors, about the forest of course. Creatures of Grimm big enough to gobble her up in one bite, but the girl was not afraid; she believed she could handle anything the creatures of Grimm could throw at her. As she silently told herself that would always come out on top because she was the hero of her story." She leaned towards the little boy and whispered "She was pretty dumb back then." Causing the boy to burst out into a fit of laughter. "So, deep into the forest she went, jumping over fallen logs, and crossing perilous rivers…" With each new scene in the story Summer would act like she was the one in the story jumping over the logs, and crossing the rivers. Drawing in more audience members with her vivid storytelling.

"The little girl wondered how she was supposed to cross the river, for it was to fast for her to swim across, and she was not the strongest of swimmers. If asked when she was swimming why she is flailing around like a fish out of water she would say she had a cramp. Luckily the little girl was a quick thinker, and she broke off a large branch from a nearby tree, and walked back quite a distance before she ran full speed, and vaulted over the river with the branch. Finally she reached a large clearing where the dreaded beowolves were said to reside." She made a few growling noises to symbolize a beowolf.

"Seeing a lone Beowolf invigorated our young heroes plan. She decided to try, and sneak up on the vile creature in order to catch it off guard with the element of surprise, but as she drew closer to Beowolf our young hero stepped on a small branch that was hidden beneath a pile of fallen leaves which made a loud snap that resounded throughout the clearing. This caught the Beolwolf's attention alright, and can you guess what our young hero did?" She asked the crowd in order to build up suspense.

"Ummm did she run away crying?"

Summer laughed "Nope our young hero fell," The audience gasped. "And as the Beowolf drew closer to her, sensing its prey wouldn't be able to put up much a fight. Our young hero hit it hard in the side of the head with her trusty stick, the stick smashed apart against its head which caused the fell beast to stumble back in surprise. This gave our young hero a chance to run to the edge of the clearing where she ran straight into another figure, this figure was not another creature of Grimm; however, no the figure was none other than the most heroic huntresses ever of all time. She was garbed in a red cloak similar to this one, behind her a large scythe began to unfurl." Summer acted as if she was watching the figure herself in awe.

"As the Beowolf lunged for its attack the huntress moved at inhuman speeds, and the Beowolf was cut in two, and rose petals floated away carried aloft by the wind as the fell creature faded into oblivion. Upon turning to face her the huntress had a very angry look on her face, and she scolded our young hero for her stupidity. The huntress then asked why a child her age is out and attacking creatures of Grimm, and our young hero told the red clad woman that she wanted to be a huntress just like her. Before our hero could leave, the huntress, despite being angry told her that she was very courageous, and asked her if she wanted training to become a real huntress. Ecstatic our young hero jumped with glee, and began to skip around the huntress. She took our young hero under her wing, and as the years passed by she always looked up to her hero the huntress that had saved her from the Beowolf. From this our young hero has lived happily ever after." Summer said concluding her story,

The people around her began to clap wildly which caused Summer to blush in embarrassment. One of her audience members walked up, and handed her a few Lien cards, thanking her for the entertaining tale. Another man tipped his hat, in thanks for her performance, followed by him the mother of the little Faunus boy dragged both he, and a little girl that seemed to be a few years younger than the boy over to her. The woman smiled as she handed her a Lien card, the boy next to her flashed her a large smile, and hugged her. "Miss I would like to thank you for the story, if you're a huntress then when I grow up I'm going to nice, and kind just like you." He said cheerily.

Summer blushed again, and ruffled the boy's hair "I look forward to seeing how great a huntsman you turn out to be kiddo, and you don't need to call me miss. When you say that it makes me feel all old, and stuff I'm only fourteen for pete's sake. The names Summer Rose kiddo." She said before walking away from the smiling boy looking at her in awe, the same way she had looked at Professor Rose all those years ago, and even to this day.

If Summer had stayed for just a moment longer she would have noticed a bespectacled grey haired man with green shirt overlaid by a black overcoat staring at her in surprise, and wonder.

* * *

Summer sat at a table on the front patio of Pun In The Oven a sandwich shop that she, and Professor Rose would eat at from time to time. A half eaten turkey sandwich sat in front of her, a plate of strawberries sat off to the side, along with a glass water. The hourglass sat in front of her on the other side of the table. She was glad that she was finally able to eat something for the first time in hours, years really if you want to get technical. When she first walked in the owner had tried to shoo her off calling her a street rat. His tone changed when she had showed him the Lien that she had on her.

Summer took a sip of her water, as she thought about the story she had told the boy. Yeah, the little girl had it drilled into her mind that if she killed a creature of Grimm she would be seen as a hero, and finally people would acknowledge her instead of brushing her off as a street rat that would amount to nothing. Sure the Professor had given her a tongue lashing that she could still hear to this day, but in her mind it was all worth it she had gotten to become the personal student under her hero the greatest huntress ever of all time Ruby Rose.

Yeah she lived happily ever after alright… Until today that is. Summer sighed and resumed eating her lunch. Pondering to herself on what she was going to do next. She needed to gather more information on the White Fang, and find out what they did in order to cause what happened in her time to occur. She also needed to find out what the Professor meant by protect the seasons, she knew the Schnee's had an older daughter by the name of Winter around this time is that what she meant. _No I feel like it's not going to be that easy, but what could she possibly mean._ She pondered if she could break into Beacon, and use the library there, but she threw that idea away as quickly as it had come, and decided that she would use the Vale public library.

Summer looked around the plaza admiring the beauty of the fountain, and the sculptures that dotted the plaza. "Amaranthe plaza..." Summer said slowly as a thought crossed her mind. Professor Rose said something big went down here sometime during her first year at Beacon, and that the plaza was never really the same after it happened. "Hm I wonder if From Dust Till Dawn is around? I could always stock up on some dust or buy a copy of Weapons Weekly whichever one comes first."

Summer quickly scarfed down the rest of her meal only savoring the wonderful strawberries. She was glad the she hadn't spent all of her Lien on food, and that she will still have some left over to shop at Dust Till Dawn. She jumped up like a spring, and grabbed the hourglass before running off.

She bobbed, and weaved through the angry pedestrians ignoring the angry shouts of good for nothing hoodlum, and even the strange call of rapscallion. 'W _ho even says that anymore?' a_ s she sped off towards the dust shop. Eager to reach her favorite store. Next to the one that sold weapon parts that is.

* * *

By the time she had reached the shop night had fallen over the city of Vale. When she entered a little bell rang out signaling the clerk a new customer had walked in, upon seeing the clerk she stopped in her tracks in surprise. _No way he looked that old now, he still hasn't changed. Is there some ancient remedy to never aging that we don't know about? he looks almost the exact same as he does in my time or what if he has a son that looks just like him?_ Summer never realized that she had continued to walk too caught up in her revelation, until she accidentally bumped into a girl wearing a red cloak "Sorry." Summer mumbled to the girl before walking off. Summer couldn't help, but have the feeling like she should know that girl from somewhere.

Summer flicked her hood up out of an old habit she had developed when she was younger, and had first received her cloak. She looked at the most recent issue of Weapons Weekly, and saw the latest model of an Atlesian Knight well the newest model for this time any way in her time they were newer, and better ever since they combined the paladins with them. She also saw some featured weapons people have sent it to be showcased. One weapon or weapons in this case that had caught her attention were dual swords that transformed into heavy pistols. For some reason Summer felt drawn to the swords, a small melancholic smile pulled at her lips as she gazed upon them. Deep within herself summer felt a sense of wistfulness as if she were remembering an old friend that she had parted ways with many years ago. What caught her attention was a sentence in the article. "Pictures of these swords were submitted anonymously to Weapons Weekly in order to showcase the weapons of the fallen huntress Summer Rose." ' _Huh, so there was person with my name in the past? I wonder if she has any relations to Ruby? She never really did like to talk about her family except her sister Yang, and her uncle Qrow really.'_

She was ripped out of her own little world when a hand tapped her on the shoulder, and tore her hood off of her head. She turned around thinking it was the clerk trying to forcibly remove her from the store. Though she was surprised when she saw a man decked out in a black suit wearing a fedora, and red sunglasses carrying what looked to be a sword with a red blade. "E-excuse me? A-are you robbing me?" Summer stuttered out in false fear.

The man seemed to grow angry after hearing her rather foolish question "Yes! Now if you don't want your body floating face up somewhere in the harbor then you'll do as I say!" The man barked out.

Summer narrowed her eyes and flashed the man a look that caused him to tighten his grip on the hilt of his sword. "Okay just let me grab my Lien for you." she said, every trace of the scared little girl facade disappearing.

Almost as if a signal went off Summer broke into action as she quickly yanked her scythe off of the clip at the small of her back before quickly extending it into its rifle configuration. Faster than he could react Summer rammed her _"Baby"_ into his stomach causing the man to double over in pain. She twirled the makeshift club in her hands before bringing it up and catching the man beneath his chin sending him flying as her aura boosted strength helped to propel the man across the Dust shop. Out of the corner of her eye she could see that the red clad figure further down the aisle had done the same to her opponent.

As one, the two of them began to sprint towards their respective opponents, and before the thug in front her could react Summer jumped up into the air and gave an aura infused sidekick to the man's head. Which sent the two of them flying as the man clutched onto her outstretched foot, the sound of shattering glass was her only warning before she was sent tumbling across the hard concrete. A maneuver that her mentor had shown her in the past popped into her head as she quickly unfurled the blade of her scythe and threw her beloved weapon in front of her. The scythe stuck in the ground, and her cloak billowed around her as she caught herself between the shaft and the curved heel of her scythe. Next to her Summer could hear the familiar sound of another scythe unfurling, she glanced over at her new comrade only to nearly stumble and fall off of her perch in shock. For standing beside her was the younger version of her mentor. An old memory seemed to spark as the whispers of a conversation between her and Professor Rose rushed to forefront of her mind.

 _Looking up from her book that was about Grimm anatomy a young Summer asked her mentor "Professor Rose what happened the day you were accepted into Beacon?_

 _Ruby laughed at her inquisitive student's question "Well it's a funny story really, do you remember that dust shop I brought you to last week? Well I was in there reading an issue of Weapons Weekly, and restocking my supply of dust that I had used up during my test to be brought back into signal."_

 _Tilting her head Summer interrupted her mentor "Wait Professor there's a test after the first year initiation? At this rate I'm doomed!" Summer yelled in frustration._

 _Ruby once again laughed at her young students antics "You're fine Summer you have only been training for a month now, I mean you haven't even picked out what kind of weapon you want to use yet. Or are you going to go, and be a barbaric savage like my sister, and punch everything you don't like?"_ She _chuckled a bit at her jab towards her sister. "Anyways Summer you are going to be a fantastic huntress when you grow up, you don't need to be worrying about things that are so far into your future. Focus on the present Summer; enjoy being a child for just a bit longer, it's not a role you'll be able to play forever. You have plenty of time before then to become the best huntress ever of all time, and besides by the time you actually do take that test. You will be so amazing that the instructors will be forced to pick their jaws up from off the floor after they see you in action." Ruby said ruffling Summer's hair towards the end of her little speech._

 _"Now on to the story I was telling before being abruptly interrupted by my little audience member. Now where was I? Oh right. I was reading a weapons magazine, and some goon thought he could rob me. Well I showed him, his friends, and his girly looking boss Roman not to mess with a huntress, but things went downhill from there so let's leave it at that. Now that's enough story time for right now you have a book you need to be reading." Summer pouted at this, but looked back to her book nonetheless. Should she have kept looking for just a bit longer she would have noticed Ruby steal away the last strawberry in the dish between them._

She was snapped out of her memory when young Ruby twirled her scythe around, and jammed it into the ground. Summer gently hopped off of her perch and with a flourish of her cloak she latched onto the shaft of her scythe before mirroring Ruby's actions as she twirled it around in a similar fashion. The blade of her scythe bit deep into the cement, and cracks began to spider web around it. She winced for a brief moment afterwards. _'Oh no now I'm going to be fined for property damage.'_

The man in the white coat who Summer could only assume to be the Roman. Professor Rose was talking about in her story, turned around along with his goons to see what all the commotion was about. "Okaaay that's not something you see everyday, get them." He ordered.

The first two goons ran at them, and out of the corner of her eye Summer could could see Ruby latch onto the shaft of her scythe before spinning and kicking her opponent in the side of the head. With a flick of her wrist Summer ripped her scythe out of the ground, and angled it behind her as she held it like one would a bo staff. With a small pull of the trigger a shot rang out, and with the momentum from the recoil Summer spun and twirled her scythe around uppercutting the man with the heel of her scythe sending him flying as her beloved weapon made contact with the man's chin. With the remaining momentum Summer turned and twirled her scythe before she slammed it home on the next thug's back with an overhead strike drilling him into the ground. Summer glanced over to her left only to see Ruby sweep her opponent's feet off of the ground and into air. Before jamming her scythe into the cement, and using the momentum to launch herself above her opponent in order to slam her scythe into the final goon which knocked him down onto the street at Roman's feet

From where she stood Summer could see Roman look down at the thug in front of him in disdain, and mutter something to himself. With an air of nonchalance about him he sauntered forward a few feet, and dropped his cigar before crushing it beneath his cane. "Well this was a very unexpected and rather unfortunate event I never expected to run into two wannabe huntresses. Though despite this little set back ladies I can truly say that this has been an eventful night for us all, and as much as I would love to stick around with the two of you. I am afraid this, is where we are going to have to part ways." He said as he raised his cane, before he fired at the two.

Summer squeezed her eyes shut as she was blinded by a bright flash of light. A single discharge of Ruby's scythe, and a loud ear piercing whistle served to be her only warnings before what felt like a flaming drill ground itself into her chest, and launched her off of her feet. Flying back Summer bounced and rolled of her left shoulder, before coming to a stop on her back. She let out a small groan of pain as she slowly rose up into a standing position all while stumbling about in a daze as her vision cleared. Quickly shaking her head she could see both Ruby, and the shop keeper making their way towards her.

The first to arrive was Ruby, her bright iridescent silver eyes looked upon her with a mix of different emotions. Concern sat heavily in Ruby's gaze; however deep within the silver pools thinly veiled behind her concern, shock and sorrow swam dolefully in and out of focus. With that look directed towards her Summer couldn't help, but briefly replace Ruby with images of her mentor as memories of their first meeting in the Emerald Forest rushed to the forefront of her mind.

"A-are you okay?" Stuttered out Ruby as she frantically scanned Summer for any injuries.

Quickly dusting herself off Summer looked over at Ruby, and replied "Y-yeah I-I'm okay I am little shook up, but I should be fine." Glancing all around her Summer could not see a single speck of white bar her own cloak as she searched for Roman. "W-where did the guy with the cane go?"

With those words whatever spell that had held Ruby tightly within its thrall seemed to break as she quickly turned away from her, her eyes snapped away from Summer, as she moved to join her fellow scythe user in frantically searching for the missing thief.

Their search; however, came to an abrupt end when the shop keeper pointed and shouted out. "Look over there on the ladder!" Following his finger Summer could see a small speck of white disappear over the edge of the roof, quickly both she and Ruby broke out into a run. Without missing a beat Summer bent down, and picked up her scythe mid sprint before pointing it at the ground and firing a single round as she launched herself up into the air and onto the rooftop. A crisp discharge of Ruby's scythe, told her that she had done the same.

As the two of them ran towards the alabaster clad felon Ruby shouted "Stop right there, you have no where left to run!" Summer leveled her scythe towards the cornered crook, and pulled the bolt back to chamber a new round. Her eyes narrowed in intense concentration as a faint whirring sound began to resonate through the air.

The sound became more intense as a Bullhead shot up into the night sky from behind Roman. Both she and Ruby took a step back in surprise as they were blinded by the airship's spotlight, their cloaks billowed out behind them as they were frantically whipped back to and fro by the wind generated from the Bullhead's engines. Quickly reorienting herself Summer leveled her scythe towards the open hatch that Roman had climbed into, her instincts bristled as Roman turned back towards them with a look of sadistic glee spread across his face. "This has been quite the chase ladies, but I'm afraid to say that this is the end of the line!" before chucking a burn crystal at their feet.

Summer reacted quickly as she jumped in front of Ruby in an attempt to shield her from the blast. _'No I won't let you get hurt this time Professor I couldn't do anything before, but I can do something now!'_ Summer squeezed her eyes shut, and internally readied herself as she gathered up as much aura as she could afford in order to take the brunt of the blast. She winced when telltale ear piercing whistle of Roman's missile made itself known to the world, followed shortly by the sound of an explosion. Already she could feel the blazing heat tear at her skin; however, she could only let out a faint confused. "Huh?" When she wasn't enveloped by the searing heat of the explosion.

Summer slowly opened her eyes only to stare in awe as she was met nearly face to face with the sight of a large purple glyph covered in runic symbols. In front of her stood a blonde haired woman, her arm outstretched as she held aloft the very object conjuring the barrier, a simple yet effective riding crop. Summer blinked owlishly as she studied the woman, faintly out of the corner of her eye she registered that the glyph was slowly fading away. The woman dressed in her white blouse, high waist pencil skirt, and her tattered two toned cape vaguely reminded Summer of one of the old professors in some of the staff photos that her mentor proudly displayed on the wall behind her desk.

Summer's ruminations were cut short as the woman nonchalantly fixed her glasses before flicking her riding crop towards the Bullhead, and conjuring up a swarm of purple streaks of energy that barreled into the airship knocking it to and fro as the pilot struggled to compensate for the sudden shifts of momentum. Summer turned her gaze back towards Roman where she could see him stumble into the cockpit of the Bullhead, and out of her sight for good. Her attention; however, was reclaimed by the blonde huntress as she shot up a blast of energy into the sky above the Bullhead, from where the blast hit a swarm of ominous dark clouds began to blanket the sky. With one swift flick of her riding crop the huntress brought about one of the most awe inspiring sights that Summer had ever seen. As hundreds of ice crystals cascaded from out of the clouds like rain, and embedded themselves into the wings, and the cockpit of the airship.

Reluctantly Summer tore her attention away from the barrage of crystals, as she turned her gaze back towards the cargo hatch of the Bullhead. Where a woman wearing what seemed to be a dress covered in dust infused runes that glowed with a malevolent orange light slowly stalked her way into view, her features were veiled from sight by the shadows of the Bullhead that seemed to cover the upper half of her body like a second skin. With an air of nonchalance the woman summoned what Summer could only perceive to be fire before she outstretched her hand, and cast a fireball at the cape wearing huntress.

With reflexes born from many years of experience the huntress quickly conjured a barrier glyph to protect herself from the blast. Her efforts; however, were all for naught as the mysterious woman lifted her arm and the remnants of the fireball that had seemingly splattered like paint behind the huntress, flared out into a bright explosion forcing her to back flip her way safety and out of the blast radius.

 _"Th-this is both amazing and terrifying at the same time h-how can Professor Rose expect me to fight people like this, I would be slaughtered before I even had the chance to lift up my scythe."_ Summer shook her head in order to derail that train of thought, and glanced over towards Ruby who stared out upon the battle with a stupefied look adorned across her face. Summer returned her gaze back to the duel between the huntress and the mysterious woman. " _That woman is entirely focused on heading off the huntress, and Roman is to occupied with keeping the Bullhead in the air to stop Ruby and I from interfering with the fight."_ With a short look towards Ruby her focus zeroed in on the red scythe that she wielded, and a plan began to formulate in front of her eyes.

Quickly turning towards her red clad comrade Summer quietly shouted out "H-hey Ru-Red I have an idea," The trance that Ruby had seemingly fallen into as her eyes traced every movement made by the two combatants broke, as her eyes shifted from the large spear made up of glass shards over to Summer. "While that woman is distracted by the huntress we should try and bring down the Bullhead. Focus your fire on one of the engines, and shoot as fast as you can."

Ruby's eyes narrowed as she gave an affirmative nod of her head she quicky twirled er scythe around before she trained it on the nearest engine of the Bullhead. Just as she was about to fire her movements halted as she turned her towards Summer and asked. "Why shoot the engines, and not the crazy fire lady? I mean wouldn't that help out the huntress if we diverted her attention towards us?"

Summer looked over towards Ruby before glancing at the Woman in the dress, and as their eyes seemingly locked for a just a split second, something deep within her stirred as if it yearned for something that only the woman in the dress could give her, and as she continued to stare at the mysterious woman a foreboding feeling began to slowly permeate the air between them. There was one thing that was very clear to Summer, something was wrong about that woman and she hoped that she would never get the pleasure to find out just what about the woman disturbed her so. With one final shudder Summer turned her gaze back to Ruby "I don't know Red something tells me that if we try to shoot her all we would be doing is wasting our ammo. Please... Just... Just trust me on this one."

Ruby gave a firm nod of her head, with one last remark she started firing upon the Bullhead's engines "Okay, I trust you."

Summer retracted the blade of her scythe as she joined Ruby in firing on the Bullhead.

 _Bang._ Summer pulled the bolt back as fast as she possibly could, _bang._ She smirked as she saw the engine's chassis bend and warp as their bullets hammered into it, _bang._ She pulled the bolt back and readjusted her aim before firing, _bang._ Summer nearly whooped for joy when her bullet finally punched a hole in the Bullhead's engine, _bang._ Over the din of battle Summer could hear Ruby shout a faint "Yes!" As one of her bullets punched another hole in the engine, _bang._ Summer halted her barrage of bullets for just a brief moment as she noticed a thick plume of acrid black smoke billow out of the engine, _bang._ Summer fired again, and the Bullhead began to tilt wildly as Roman struggled to maintain the airship's steady hover. Summer couldn't help but grin wildly and mentally fist bump herself; for out of the corner of her eye she could see the mysterious woman in the Bullhead's cargo hold lose her composure as she struggled to maintain her footing in the out of control airship.

The woman in the Bullhead made a gesture with her arm which forced Summer to tear her gaze away from the airship as the ground at her feet became enveloped in a bright orange low that pulsated with a great intensity. She reacted quickly as she went to get Ruby out of the blast radius, only to have an invisible force latch itself on to her cloak and launch her far away from the danger zone. From where she once stood a series of explosions rang out which forced her to cover her head with her arms as rubble rained down on the rooftop. Summer let out a sigh of relief, and rolled over on to her back as the hail of brick and mortar finally tapered off. The raging swarm of hummingbirds that was her heartbeat began to slow as the adrenaline coursing through her veins gradually ebbed away, leaving only a muted form of serenity as she stared up at the haunting sight of Remnant's shattered moon.

She stared wistfully at the sight as she forlornly remembered times long past where both she and her mentor would relax beneath the trees in the Emerald Forest, and gaze out at the stars as Professor Rose regaled her with stories of her past. Slowly she reached up and gripped her hand as she silently vowed to herself _"I won't fail you Professor I'll save everyone I promise."_

With a doleful sigh Summer stood up, and dusted herself off, behind her she feel a pair of eyes glare daggers into her soul. Slowly she turned around only to be met with the sight of a narrowed pair of terrifying emerald green eyes. The stare down between she and the huntress was interrupted by a red blur that streaked passed her and plopped itself in front of the woman. Summer couldn't help but let a small smile pull at her lips at the sight of Ruby standing in front of the stoic huntress like an excited puppy as she all but begged for the woman's autograph. She let the smile drop as she walked over to the pair, and as soon as she took her place next to Ruby the atmosphere turned dour as the stern looking woman silently stared down at the two of them.

Summer shuffled from foot to foot as awkward silence began to permeate the space between the three of them. Summer took a hesitant step towards the huntress. "s-so do I s-speak first? O-or do you s-speak first?" Summer physically recoiled at the venomous glare the woman gave her.

"You two are in a lot trouble." and with that the woman turned with a flourish of her cloak and stalked off towards the ladder that led them down to street level.

Summer turned to Ruby only to see a look of panic adorned across her face no doubt worrying about the punishment she'll receive when she gets back home. She hesitantly placed her hand on Ruby's back and guided her to the awaiting huntress "Come on R-red we might as well get this over with its not l-like we c-can run."

"Ruby... my name is Ruby... not red."

"S-sorry I didn't really k-know what to call you, it's nice m-meeting you Ruby. M-my name i-is Summer."

With that the two of them smiled at each other as they trudged their way towards the irate huntress. Each step heralded the arrival of their immediate future, a future that involved a long car ride to the local police station where both she and Ruby were to report what happened during the robbery. A future rife with struggle, friendship, and the ever present will to always move forward.

* * *

What she really didn't expect to happen when they arrived at the police station. Was for her to be separated from Ruby, and thrown into an interrogation cell to sit by herself in a cold and dark room. Summer ambled over to a chair that sat at the end of the table far away from the door, and lowered herself into it. She put her hands into her face and wondered to herself ' _how did I get into this mess_ ', all she wanted to do was buy an issue of Weapons Weekly, and some dust. She sat there for what felt like hours thinking of ways to track the White Fang, and trying to find out what Professor Rose meant about protecting the seasons. When she heard the door on the other side of the room creak open.


	3. A Beacon In The Distance

**Chapter three:: A Beacon in The Distance**

A grey haired, bespectacled man wearing a green shirt overlaid by a black jacket stepped into the interrogation room, and walked up to the table that Summer was resting her head on. He stopped short of the edge of the table. "You have silver eyes." The man said in what Summer could only call a calm surprised tone.

Summer was more than a little confused about his rather obvious statement. "Ummm, y-yeah last time I looked anyways." The man stared at her like she was an oddity, like a unique specimen for a scientist to study.

"From what Miss Rose in the other room was able to tell us your name is Summer, no surname?" The man questioned, he looked very familiar to Summer, but she couldn't quite place where she recognized him, the man noticed her extended bout of silence, and his stare only increased tenfold.

 _'Oh what do I do, what do I do? Do I lie, and tell him my surname is something else like Violet or something, no that's too close to Rose._ ' Summer relented, and decided to just tell the man the truth, and if a question had her divulge more than she was willing to than she would omit information. "M-my full name is Summer R-rose sir." the man's eyes widened for a brief second, Summer thought if she blinked she would of missed it. His eyes flashed an emotion that she couldn't quite place. Was it anger? Or was it regret?

"Hm I do not know if this is an elaborate attempt to pull at my heartstrings, but Summer Rose has been dead for the past eleven years. Who are you really child, is this truly what you look like? Or is this but a ploy by someone hoping to endear you to me, by making you look like one of my most trusted colleagues? " Summer almost couldn't believe herself she was being accused of impersonating a dead woman just because they looked similar to each other, and they had the same name. Of course given the circumstances it seemed suspicious, and it called many questions that have been floating around in her head to the forefront of her mind ever since she saw the twins swords in the Weapons Weekly article. Though worst of all it was implied that she was a two bit imposter based on the outfit that she had painstakingly picked out to go along with the cloak her mentor had sewed for her.

"My name is actually Summer Rose, and my outfit of choice is no shoddy attempt to match the appearance of a dead woman that I have never laid my eyes on before. I chose my outfit to go along with this cloak, and any similarities to the Summer Rose that you know are purely coincidental." She stated with conviction.

The man pulled his scroll out from within his jacket, and pulled up a video of she, and Ruby fighting off Roman's goons. "Okay then, onwards to my next question. Where did a young girl who looks like she is just old enough to enroll into Signal Academy learn to fight like this?" The man asked sternly, but she could detect something else in his voice; however, she couldn't quite pinpoint what it was exactly. From the way the man kept looking at her, Summer couldn't help but feel as if she had insulted him somehow, and from her knowledge of the time she was not disobeying any customs, so Summer was left baffled as she struggled to think of the reason behind the man's gaze. She shuffled nervously in her seat, and repeatedly shifted her gaze from the man, to the smooth grey table beneath her.

"I learned f-from my m-mentor." Summer stuttered out. _'Why is this happening now I can talk to little kids no problem, but when it comes to things like this I feel like i'm going to have a heart attack.'_ She thought to herself as her heart pounded against her chest like thousands of small hammers.

"Your mentor just taught you offhand how to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?" He said accusingly as if it was a crime punishable by death, and for all Summer knew it could have been unless you had a permit or something during this time. She had never really bothered to ask Ruby why no ever tried to use a scythe like her, and she always wondered if there was specific reason as to why her mentor had decided to learn how to use a scythe.

"W-well she w-was a freelance h-huntress, and she didn't really report in m-much, but a scythe wasn't her m-main w-weapon she m-mainlly used a s-sword." Summer technically didn't lie she just swapped the sword, and the scythe around, and she never had to report because she was the headmistress of Beacon academy.

The man narrowed his eyes as if he didn't believe what she had said, but he brushed it off, and continued with his interrogation or at least what she believed to be an interrogation. "Another thing that has vexed my colleague, and I was the make of your scythe. It was created with a material that has never before been seen on the face of Remnant, and I was curious as to how you had acquired enough of it to create a whole weapon. Even the mechanisms in the scythe vastly differ from what is available now for most scythe wielders, so how did you acquire this material?" The man questioned, and Summer groaned inwardly of course they would notice the futuristic material her scythe was made out of, how could she be so stupid she had the sword that Ruby had given her, but no she had to use her scythe.

"W-well my m-mentor liked to t-tinker in her f-free time, and she developed a new way to craft her weapons, so s-she helped me build m-my scythe." The entire sentence was false. The material was created by an inventor in Mistral, and she had convinced Ruby to let her build her scythe on her own. The man narrowed his eyes once again, as if he knew she was lying.

"So where is your mentor now?" He noticed the crestfallen look on the her face, and strayed away from that line of questioning already knowing the answer by her expression. So he opened up with with a similar question he had asked Ruby in the other room. "So why is a young girl such as yourself training with such a dangerous weapon?" With this he noticed the girl perk up, and prepared for a babbling stream of words to gush out her mouth like he had Miss Rose

With a gleam in her eye she gained only when talking about becoming a huntress Summer began her tale. "Well, sir I want to be a huntress. You see, since I turned fourteen this year I am now eligible to enter Signal Academy."

History seemed to repeat itself as he voiced the same question he had to the red clad scythe wielder in the other room. "You want to slay monsters?"

"Well yeah, I want to defend those that can't defend themselves, and if I get enrolled at Signal, and finish there. I am going to apply for Beacon, I was always taught to help people, and what better way is there than to be a huntress right? I mean the police are cool, and all, but hunters, and huntresses are so much more heroic, and exciting you know!" Summer practically squealed out with glee. The man's narrowed eyes softened at the Summer's explanation.

Summer saw a small smile appear on his face "Do you know who I am?" The man asked Summer with a hint of amusement in his voice at her outburst.

Summer tapped her chin in thought before her mind had a sudden epiphany "You're Professor Ozpin the youngest person in the history of all Hunters to ever take the position of headmaster!" jubilantly exclaimed Summer as she finally put a name to the mysterious man.

"Pleasure to meet you." The man, no Ozpin said.

Being polite Summer pleasantly replied "It is nice to meet you as well Professor."

He placed his hands down on the table, and looked her dead in the eyes. "So you want to come to my school?" he asked her. Summer's eyes widened in surprise, and her mouth flopped open, and closed as she tried to form words.

She looked him straight in the eye with a small sense of hope gleaming in her eyes. "More than anything in the world, it's what my mentor would have wanted."

He looked at her with a warm smile on his face "Well okay." He said simply, and left it at that. Summer's eyes if it was possibly were opened as wide as they could go probably even further, and her eyes were deep silver pools of happiness. She was so excited she could die in content now that she was armed with the knowledge thsat not only was she able to enter Beacon before she had even had the chance to register in one of the basic combat academies. She was entering an advanced combat academy, with a large library she could use to research what Professor Rose had meant by protecting the seasons.

She only had one question though "Why? I haven't even entered a combat school I wouldn't even know what to do at Beacon. So why? Why would you want me in your school i'm just some kid with an obsession over weapons, and a giant scythe? I'm not special i'm just a normal girl with nothing special going for her."

He looked at her the same way Professor Rose did when she knew more than she was letting on, with the same warm smile on his face that she would have. "You underplay yourself to much Miss Rose, you helped stop an armed robbery, and performed at a level most could only dream of before entering a combat school. I feel if you were to enroll into Signal your talents would be wasted. That is the reason why I wish for you to attend Beacon Academy. I hope that is a sufficient answer for your question Miss Rose."

She listened to what he had to say before slowly going into a fit of excitement. "Thank you Professor, I mean that with all of my heart, and soul, I won't let you down!"

He stood up, and looked at her one more time as if she would disappear into thin air. The look confused her to no end, but she was too excited to care. She was going to Beacon. "Before I leave I must say your performance earlier at the park was quite enjoyable. But one question has been on my mind for sometime. May I question why you are covered in ash, and look like you have just survived an entire building burning down around you?" Ozpin asked.

Summer was snapped out of her coma of excitement, and blushed at the first comment 'he saw my performance oh no what does he think? What type of impression is that going to leave?' She snapped out of her thoughts when the question he had asked finally registered in her mind, and quickly grew nervous at the question being presented to her. "W-well there was this house burning down w-while I was walking i-in Vale, and I rushed in to save the family that was t-trapped in the building." Summer felt horrible for lying to her new headmaster, but she couldn't reveal that she was from the future unless she wanted them to think of her as insane, and lock her up in a padded room.

The way ozpin stared at her led her to believe that he didn't believe her. "Miss Rose if you are going to lie you might want to be a little bit more convincing or if possibly hide the real truth behind the truth." Summer stared at the back of Ozpin's head wondering to herself what was up with headmasters and headmistresses of schools giving vague, and cryptic advice to students. "What does that even mean!" Summer whisper shouted to herself in exasperation.

With Ozpin's exit Summer assumed that it was okay to leave the room, and she sat up from her chair before she set off on her small journey out of the police station. As she walked a thought crossed her mind _'wait the dropships start taking students to Beacon in two days, what am I going to do in the mean time?'_

* * *

To Summer those two days of waiting were ones of pure agony, from the constant struggle to find food. To even trying to fall asleep, those two days she had spent long nights staring at the night sky attempting in vain to shut out the visions of her world being consumed by magma, and the malevolent laughter that echoed in her head, and . In one of her attempts to fall asleep she had a rather pleasant dream. Or rather a memory of a lesson she had a few years ago. It was rather unique session with her mentor that made her realize a few things. One her mentor could make a metaphor out of almost anything, and it also made her realize just how important her dream was to become a huntress, and protect those who couldn't protect themselves. The only unfortunate part of her dream was that she was awoken by its unfortunate aftermath as it split off from her memory. Summer sighed, and checked a clock that she could see through a window in the alley that she had claimed as hers, and saw that she had only been asleep for ten minutes. She sat there, and memories from that lesson started to flood her mind as she looked up towards the night sky just like she had done all the previous times she tried to gain purchase in the land of dreams.

Summer was standing on the cliff faced towards the Emerald Forest, the forest sprawled out in almost every direction. Below her sat a destroyed temple, Professor Rose said it was sort of intact until she had her initiation where it was destroyed by a Nevermore. She wondered to herself why Professor Rose had brought her here to look out at the forest. She stared out at the rolling expanse of green, and squinted her eyes as if she were trying to see something really small. After a few more minutes she eventually gave up, and turned towards her mentor. "Alright Professor Rose, i'm stumped what are we looking for?"

Professor Rose stood next to Summer, and looked calmly out towards the forest. She was at least a head taller than her. Her red cloak blew erratically in the wind behind her, with her hood down her hair swayed back, and forth like wild grass. To Summer it only increased her coolness factor by about three hundred percent, even though Professor Rose was already the coolest huntress ever, and had broken her scale of coolness a long time ago.

Professor Rose smiled her eyes crinkled a little bit, but they never left the peaceful forest in front of her. "You mean you don't see it Summer?"

"See what? It's just a bunch trees and old ruins with Grimm wandering around in it...Oh no" She scrunched her face up in annoyance. "This isn't one of those things where you turn this into a metaphor again is it? Is everything you see a metaphor?"

Professor Rose's head tilted back in laughter. Her laugh chimed through the air, and reminded Summer of symphony bells. "You know Summer not everything I bring you to look at is going to be a metaphor for something, I mean if you thought hard enough you can compare anything to a deeper meaning." She stretched her arms out wide towards the forest "The trees out there could represent the solidarity of our kingdom, and the deep rooted values of defending the innocent." She turned her back towards Beacon. "And the walkways at Beacon could represent the paths we must walk to reach our goals." She stared off into the distance as if she was looking for something "Beacon academy, Signal, all of the combat schools represent the bright lights that stand against the darkness that are the Grimm."

Summer looked at her in awe, she just created all of those metaphors at the drop of a hat, and each metaphor struck a chord in her very being. Professor Rose swept her arm over the forest again "Now Summer you can't guess the meaning behind why I brought you here to today?"

"Not if you want to stand here all week." Summer joked

Professor Rose placed a hand on Summer's shoulder "You know, you're a lot more brilliant than you give yourself credit for Summer, at least give it a try."

Summer gave her a halfhearted nod of her head, and stared back out towards the forest. She looked at all of the trees, their leaves swayed gently in the wind. From where she was she could see birds flying through the canopy of trees, and Grimm meander about waiting for prey. Yet she couldn't find a deeper meaning behind it all, really it was just a forest.

Still she didn't want to disappoint her mentor, and took a shot in the dark. "Well you see the trees represent the peace, and unity between all of the kingdoms. The animals in the forest represent the people we the hunters, and huntresses are supposed to protect. The shadows the trees cast represent the creatures of Grimm encroaching upon the kingdoms, and threatening the people that reside within."

"Hmmm" Professor Rose pondered "That is a very interesting answer Summer."

Summer looked at her mentor in hope "Did I get it right?" Surprise filled her voice.

"Not quite," Summer's head fell in disappointment. "But I will admit that is an interesting perspective I never really thought of it like that. No, what this forest really represents is something way less complicated than you might believe. This forest represents how you must enjoy the simpler things. Take a moment away from all of the chaos, and take a deep breath, and relax as the events of nature go on around you. Just like when we go, and sit beneath that one tree in the clearing we train in. What I want you to take from this Summer is that you don't have to rush to grow up, nothing special is awarded to you, and if you go too fast sometimes you might run the risk of losing sight of where you are going. Take it from me Summer I learned it the hard way that there is no advantage to hurrying through life. So it's best if you take the time to look at the simple things, and spend that brief moment enjoying life to its fullest.

Summer sighed "I promise Professor I won't rush ahead to far, and I guess it's a good thing you told me I probably would have never of guessed that." She took another look out towards the forest "Although now that I look at it, it seems kind of obvious."

Professor Rose laughed "Don't worry Summer: your answer was still insightful, just because someone else sees something one way doesn't mean you have to see it their way too or that it is the only way. Everyone has their own interpretation of something, for all you knew that could have been the exact interpretation of what this represents." She put her arm over Summer's shoulders as she led her away from the cliffside.

"While we are on the topic of enjoying the simpler things why don't we go down into the clearing, and enjoy nature. Maybe if you're lucky i'll grab us some strawberries on our way there."

Summer's head perked up at the mention of strawberries, and spending time with her mentor just relaxing "Does this mean we're done for the day? We haven't even done combat training." Summer asked.

"Not everything about being a huntress is combat Summer, you need to enjoy what you have at the moment because in the future you might regret that you never cherished or enjoyed what you had or the people you were with." Professor Rose said in a wistful tone.

As they walked the sun gleamed on Summer's face, but she was to busy mulling over her mentor's words to really revel in its warmth. They walked through the courtyard of the school; teachers, and students alike were greeting the Professor as they walked by. Eventually they reached a path that would take them down towards the forest below. They never did reach the path; however, as the wind began to pick up , and clouds began to cover the clear sky. The earth shook, and split open, and Professor Rose shoved her away before she fell into the endless abyss. Summer screamed out her name like it would bring her back to life. The tempest of wind blew her cloak erratically to, and fro, she backpedaled as more, and more of the land tore away from the cliff. She stumbled as she turned to run, but she caught herself, she ran past fleeing students attempting to avoid the balls of fire that rained down from the sky. When she reached the courtyard she stumbled over some debris, and landed on her hands, and knees. when she opened her eyes she was greeted with a pair of dark boots she looked up, and all that she saw was the empty hood of the woman like figure shrouded in shadow. "Well hello there little Rose are you lost." The figure said in mock concern, before a shadow lashed out, and impaled itself in her leg trapping her.

Summer was very aware that her dream had just turned into a nightmare "L-leave me a-alone, y-your not real." Summer whimpered to reassure herself more than anything.

The figure once again let out a malevolent laugh that caused shivers to course throughout Summer's entire body "I am more real than you can ever imagine little Rose, and if I wasn't real then would I be able to do this?" The figure rammed her hand through Summer's chest similar to how she had killed the Professor. "Sleep tight little Rose this future is doomed, no matter what you do to fight against me it will never be enough, no matter how hard you try you will always fail."

This is where she had jumped awake, and prepared to fight the figure that she had seen; however, the only thing that she had managed accomplish was to scare off an alley cat that had gotten curious about her presence. Summer looked up at the sky only to see that the sun was beginning to rise. Who knew that being lost in thought could pass the time so quickly. Summer put her head in her hands before she allowed some tears to fall "What am I going to do? Was that figure in my dream right was I just going to fail? If I can't even successfully fall asleep then how am I going to defeat something that destroyed the entire world?" A vision of a smiling Professor Rose flashed through her mind "No I will not fail. The Professor is counting on me, and everyone from the future of Remnant is counting on me. I will not fail no matter what I just have to take another step forward towards my goal, and not let anything stop me from protecting the lives of Remnant." Summer said to herself to psyche her up for her up for her long long walk towards the shuttle bay.

* * *

If anyone were to give an opinion of her they would probably say that Summer is playing the part of a professional zombie. As she shambled inside the shuttle, still wearing her ash, and grime covered clothing. The sleep deprivation probably did not help her cause one bit as people moved in wide arcs to avoid her. Summer was already one step ahead of them though as she tried to find the most secluded spot on the ship. She spotted an area where everyone seemed to avoid like the plague, but a girl with a black bow in her equally black hair sat slumped against the wall reading a book. Summer huffed in defeat as she looked for another spot, but she was bumped into by a boy in armor holding his mouth as he puked into a trashcan next to her. "A-are you o-okay?" Summer asked the boy generally worried for his well being "A-are you n-nervous because I-I know I a-am." Summer rambled on she didn't even know why she was still standing there, but she saw the people around her give that area a wide berth while the boy continued to empty his guts into the trashcan.

The boy lifted his head from the trashcan, and looked at her before stepping back a bit at her appearance. "Yeah I'm fine, just a little motion sickness thanks for asking. If you really want to know i'm really freaking nervous too, but we're going to Beacon Academy so who wouldn't. By the way if you don't mind me asking, what is your name? Mine's Jaune, Jaune Arc, short sweet rolls off the tongue ladies love it."

Summer giggled at this "I b-bet they d-do Jaune , my names Summer it's a pleasure to m-meet you." She said as she stuck her arm out for a handshake.

"It's nice to meet you to Summer, that is one of my favorite seasons you know." He said returning the handshake.

"S-so we're B-beacon bound huh who knows we m-might end u-up on the s-same team." As she said that the ship hit some more turbulence before coming down for a landing, and she could see Jaune's cheeks swell out like a chipmunk as he tried in vain to keep his vomit in his mouth. As soon as the door opened both of them were rushed out of the airship by the crowd separating the two. As she was pushed further away from Jaune she could hear the sound of vomit hitting a solid surface off in the distance. So she could only assume Jaune had made it to a trashcan.

She finally escaped the stream of people exiting the ship, and could only stare on in amazement at the place she had called her home for a majority of her life. She smiled sadly at this thought. "Home isn't as far away as I thought, the school even looks almost the same as it does in the future. Only a couple of differences, it's like I'm right back at home just different students, and teachers."

She could feel the stares of her soon to be classmates burn themselves into her back as the silently judged her appearance. Some white haired girl who seemed very familiar seemed to stare at her in disdain when she glanced over at her, and after her brief encounter via eye contact Summer flipped up her hood out of nervousness. As she walked towards the orientation hall she heard an explosion, and saw the white haired girl covered in soot yelling at Ruby. Summer just shook her head at the memory of the Professor regaling her with the tale of the time she blew up in Beacon's courtyard. She Walked into the orientation hall only to be met with the sight of the Professor's older sister as she looked around the room in boredom before her gaze finally settled on her She looked away for a brief moment, and did a double take before she looked back at her. From where she stood Summer could see Yang force her way through the crowd towards her. Startled slightly Summer started to disappear into the crowd in order to evade Yang. When she stopped running she ended up next to a bubbly orange haired girl wearing a white shirt with a heart cut out in the middle, and a stoic black haired boy with a magenta streak in it, wearing a green coat.

From where she stood Summer could hear Yang call out to Ruby, and tell her she just saw the strangest thing, but was interrupted as Ruby started to rant about her encounter with the white haired girl. A scant few moments later the white haired girl whose name she still couldn't place started to yell at Ruby. When Ozpin, and the woman from the Dust shop stepped onto the stage, she tuned out the trios argument, and looked towards the stage with rapt attention. "I'll keep this brief. You all congregate here today in search of knowledge, and to hone your crafts. I look out amongst all of you, and see wasted energy in need of a purpose, a direction. You assume that knowledge will free you from these aimless wanderings, but your time at Beacon will only prove that the knowledge you have gained will only carry you so far, and it is up to you to take that first step forward." This speech was completely different from the one Ruby usually gives. Hers is cheerful, and inspiring, but, this left a foreboding chill that crawled throughout her body.

The woman from the Dust shop stepped forward immediately after Ozpin had finished his speech, and told everyone that they were all going to sleep in the ballroom tonight. All around her Summer could hear people talk about Ozpin's strange speech, but she simply ignored it in favor of walking to the ballroom. She saw Ruby, Yang, and the white haired girl whose name was on the tip of Summer's tongue, but for the life of her could not remember the girl's name. They all seemed to fall in behind her as they saw that she seemed to know where to go. When Summer chanced a look over her shoulder she noticed Yang, and Ruby holding themselves back from running up, and questioning her.

* * *

The ballroom, Summer had many memories of her first lessons with Ruby in there. Her first lesson in combat was not actually learning how to fight, but to dance. She had told Summer that when you fought you needed to have good footwork, and that dancing would help develop the footwork, and coordination needed in a fight. As she walked towards a secluded spot the memory began to play in her mind.

 _"Professor Rose what are we doing in the ballroom?" Summer asked indignantly, but also in wonder at seeing another part of Beacon she had never seen before._

 _Professor Rose laughed at the expression Summer was making. "We my dearest young student are going to learn how to dance."_

 _A confused look crossed Summer's face "Why are we going to learn how to dance? I thought you were going going to be showing me how to fight against the Grimm?"_

 _Professor Rose smiled down at her young student "All in due time Summer, first you need to develop footwork, and coordination that is why we are going to learn how to dance." She ruffled Summer's hair which caused her to pout "If it makes you feel better I hated this part too when I was training. My uncle Qrow did the same thing, he told me he would teach me how to fight, and instead he taught me how to dance. After he taught me he made me navigate through some strange course while I was dancing. He wouldn't even let me handle a weapon until I made it through the course flawlessly."_

 _"How long did it take you to do it perfectly?" Summer asked out of curiosity._

 _She let out a little laugh when she remembered all of her failed attempts " It took about two months or so until I finally got the dancing down completely, and another month to get through the course completely."_

 _Summer groaned in defeat "This will take me forever it's going to take at least a year, you finished it so fast because you're so awesome, but i'm just me so it's going to take forever."_

 _Professor Rose pulled her young student into a reassuring hug and said to her "You doubt yourself too much Summer, you're going to grow up, and be just as awesome or even more awesome then I ever was. I bet you will even get the dancing down faster than I did. you're a brilliant child Summer, you don't need to continuously doubt yourself." She moved Summer so she was staring into her eyes, and smiled "Now let's get on with dancing shall we."_

* * *

Summer smiled as the memory came to an end, when she was learning how to dance with Ruby it was probably the most fun she had ever had when she was a little girl. The most fun she had ever had period was when she either built her scythe or when she had taught her small group of friends how to dance. At the thought of her friends the smile fell from her face, and she sighed "I hope I am able to go back, and see them again after this is all over. I miss them, and I miss Ruby, I even miss the Schnee kid Eis who acts like he is better than everyone." Eis was Winter's son who was in his third year at Beacon before the world was plunged into chaos. He had constantly picked on Summer when ever she was near him.

Summer let out another sigh as she closed her eyes, and tried to clear her mind so she could fall asleep. Her slumber did not last long; however, as she jolted awake, the sight of magma played in her vision, and the sound of the malevolent laughter echoed from within her head. She stood up, and walked towards the door of the ballroom to stare up at the night sky like she had done for the previous two nights, hoping to clear her mind. When she opened the door she felt a crisp cool breeze caress her skin, she walked down one of the pathways to her right where she ended up next to a large tree that she was quite familiar with. Back in the future she would spend some of her free time reading a book beneath it, or sometimes she would just lay on her back, and stare up at the clouds as they lazily trundled their way across the sky. All While she ruminated over what her mentor had taught her that day.

She slumped to the ground, laid down on her back, and stared up into the night sky wondering what the next day would bring her. Her thoughts strayed towards the cryptic words Professor Rose had said to her. What does she mean protect the seasons all I could find on the seasons were a story about some spirits that control the seasons in an old Mistralian mythology book, and a fairytale about the seasonal Maidens. For a moment Summer thought that this was what the Professor was actually talking about, but she quickly wrote it off by how absurd it sounded. Even to her own ears, and she had just traveled through time, one thing once thought impossible. So she considered herself as the expert of detecting how absurd something sounded.

Summer lazily thrusted her arm into the air "First day at Beacon, and i've already got people staring at me like I'm some sort of freak, like that white haired girl. On the bright side I think I made a friend so that's one friend, and one minus friend because I think that white haired girl doesn't like me. So friendship scale went from one hundred to zero real quick. What a fantastic day today am I right!" She said with mock enthusiasm.

The sun began to rise over the horizon which signaled to Summer that she had spent yet another night wide awake. _'Time really flies when you think doesn't it?'_ She stood up, and walked in the direction of the communal showers that they were supposed to use before they got assigned a dorm, and wondered if they were open for the early risers. _"Finally!"_ Summer thought to herself _"I can finally get rid of all this grime that has been clinging to my skin for the past two days, though I guess my clothes will have to wait for a bit."_

Summer flipped up the hood of her cloak out of habit as she wondered how the events of today would play out. Would they be the same from the Professor's initiation when she took it or would they be different now that she was participating? Summer shrugged to herself only time will tell if anything changes.


	4. The Will of A Huntress

**Chapter Four: The Will of A Huntress**

Summer felt like the gods were smiling down upon her, she was the first person to arrive at the showers. So she was able to use hot water to rid herself of the ash, and grime that had accumulated over the past two days. Walking out of the building Summer smiled after the wonderful shower feeling like a million Lien. Now the only thing left for her to do was to walk to the cafeteria, and find the most caffeinated thing there, and multiply it by ten so she could temporarily get rid of her sleep deprivation.

As she sat in the cafeteria students from all around the room glanced at her in surprise with the ever growing stack of coffee cups stacking on top of one another. The only one with a larger stack than her was some second year with a beret who was said to have an ever worsening addiction to coffee. Without warning an orange sailed through the air, and slammed into her stack of coffee cups causing the cups to fall everywhere on the table around her. She heard that same bubbly orange haired girl from yesterday excitedly callout. "Strike!" Summer stared down sadly at her last cup of coffee that had been knocked over during the collapse. Looking up from the cup she looked on in surprise at all of the cups she had collected wondering when she had gathered so many. While she enjoyed the feeling of not being tired she didn't really care for the army of hummingbirds trying to break out her chest. Looking around the room she could see Ruby, and Yang staring at her as they ate it kind of unnerved her to say the least. Does she look like someone they know? She was still in the dark about Ruby's family she never really talked about them except the occasional mention of her uncle, and the very frequent appearances of her sister Yang.

Still unnerved by Ruby, and Yang's collective stare she got up from her table, and disposed of the remnants of her coffee cup stack, before setting out to wander Beacon's campus. For a few minutes before she has to go, and collect her weapon from her locker. She absent mindedly set off in a random direction, and once again had she ended up standing in front of the tree she had sat under the night before. "So this is where you bring me legs? Out of all the places I frequented at Beacon you bring me back here? Is this supposed to be one of those metaphors that Ruby liked to make all the time? Does this represent my deep rooted conviction to save the future, and protect the people of Remnant. Or does it stand for some other thing, I was never good with metaphors like Ruby, personally I don't see what Ozpin, and Ruby see in me." At the mention of Ruby she could feel some sort of hand on her shoulder, but when she looked back it was gone, and no one was there. Summer shook her head, and her eyes narrowed in determination. "No! This is not the time to start doubting yourself Summer! you can do this, you have to do this! for Ruby, and for the safety of the people of Remnant no matter what!" She whisper shouted to herself as to not draw attention.

Before she had met Ruby she remembered the words of a drunken man down on his luck as he passed by her. While the words themselves might of not have been directed towards her, and he was probably not the best person to pick up advice from. She took his words to heart anyways, and they have guided her throughout her life ever since. As she turned away from the tree she whispered her version of the man's saying to herself to get rid of the feeling of self doubt. "You have a strong pair of legs Summer. So get up, and use them, and keep moving forwards towards your goal no matter how hard it gets." With these words said, Summer walked down the path completely unaware of the bespectacled grey haired man sitting on the opposite side of the tree slowly sipping a mug of coffee. As the sound of her footsteps grew fainter as she pulled away from the tree he stood up, and walked in the opposite direction of the girl with a small knowing smile adorning his face.

Locker number ninety four, locker number ninety seven, ah ha there it is locker number one hundred one. Summer quickly dashed over to the locker, and input her code sitting there in all of its glory was her sweetheart. Pulling it out of the locker she quickly unfurled it before getting a clean rag to wipe away the grime, and ambient dust that had collected over the past few days. As people walked by they could only stare in shock as a small girl cleaned a scythe that was considerably larger than her, as per usual during her public maintenance routines. Out of the corner of her eye she could see Ruby staring at her, and her scythe in wonder, next to her she could see Yang eyeing the cloak she wore. Seeing this Summer paused her routine to pull the cloak closer to herself before resuming again.

Upon finishing up with the maintenance on her sweetheart she stood up to leave before stopping in her tracks after she was almost bowled over by a flying body that was being propelled by a javelin. A very familiar looking javelin that belonged to the combat instructor Pyrrha, but Summer had to shake her head to remind herself that Pyrrha was just a student starting her first year at Beacon this year. Not the world renowned combat instructor that taught at Beacon at the behest of Ruby when the previous teacher had retired. On further inspection the body that was stuck to the wall was none other than Jaune Arc "Are y-you okay there Jaune?" All she got was groan, and a weak nod of his head. She put a hand reassuringly on his shoulder "If it makes y-you feel any better I think today is going to be a good day for everyone, and filled w-with a lot of surprises as well. Who knows you might find out something about yourself that you never knew of before." With those words spoken she walked off, leaving a very confused Jaune staring at her back.

Summer was the second student to arrive at the cliff, the first was the black haired girl with the bow from the airship. Looking out towards the forest, Summer wondered how the teams were going to be formed. With her now participating in the initiation it made the first year count uneven so there was going to be one person without a partner for their years at Beacon. Or they would be forced to take the initiation again next year. Looking around her Summer saw that more students had arrived, a few launch pads to her right Summer could see Jaune standing next to Ruby. "Do they play the initiation on the screens around Beacon like Ruby does or are they the only ones to see?" Summer thought to herself,her musings were interrupted when Ozpin started his initiation speech.

"For Many years you have all trained to become the warriors you have become to this day. Today your skills shall be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." When he finished his speech, the woman from the Dust shop spoke up.

"Many of you have heard rumors about the team selection process, allow us to put an end to all of your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates today with the exception of one student do to the odd first year count this year." Where she left off Ozpin continued.

"Your teammates will be with you for all of your years at Beacon, so it is within your best interests to be partnered with someone with whom you can work well together with. The first person you make eye contact with with shall be your partner for the next four years." Summer didn't know if it was for dramatic effect or to let Ruby's cry of outrage simmer down, and the orange haired girls outburst to quiet down.

After the small pause Ozpin resumed his speech once more. "After you have found your partner you will want to travel to the northern end of the forest. You will face opposition along the way, and if you hesitate you will die." Wow that was completely different from Ruby's speech while still warning them she laid it out in a way that wouldn't unnerve the students to the end of their days. "You will be monitored for the duration of your initiation, and none of the instructors will intervene should you be faced with mortal peril. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics each pair must choose one, and bring it back to the cliff. You will guard that item as well as your standing, and you will be graded appropriately for your performance. Now do any of you have questions?" From the point he had asked about questions onwards Summer tuned out everything, preparing to be launched off of the cliff. "Oh man I have been waiting ever since Ruby allowed me to go to the initiation with her to do this." As Summer thought this to herself she could see people out of her peripherals be launched into the air.

A few moments later a feeling of weightlessness enveloped Summer's entire body as she was launched into the sky towards the Emerald Forest. Summer righted herself as she drew closer to the ground quickly unfurling her scythe in the process. When she was roughly thirty feet above the ground Summer faced her scythe downwards, and clung to the shaft of the scythe as she fired downwards. Propelling her into the air a few more feet before letting herself fall further to the ground, and firing once more to reduce her momentum. As she retracted her scythe back to its compact form, and rolled across the ground coming to a stop on two shaking legs.

"Whoa i'm glad Ruby showed me how to do that because that was freaking awesome!" Summer shouted out not even caring if anyone was listening to caught up in the thrill of what she just did. She turned north wondering what was going to happen in between her journey from where she was to the temple.

…..

Summer avoided an overhead slash from a Beowolf as she latched the blade of her scythe to its neck, and fired. She let the momentum carry her towards another Beowolf, and she slammed the butt of the scythe into its abdomen before flipping her scythe around, and firing into its head. The remaining pack members of the pack stared at her reassessing their thoughts on their chosen prey. One of the younger, and more courageous members of the pack ran towards her with with a roar of anger at the death of its packmates, following by example the others soon followed. Summer jammed the blade of her scythe into the ground using it to stabilize her shots as she fired at the approaching horde of Grimm. One shot to their shoulder to cause them to stumble another shot to their head to finish them, one by one the grimm fell to her onslaught. A few lucky Beowolves made it through her onslaught of rifle fire. Forcing her to jump into the air, and fire point blank into an approaching beowolf's face allowing her to launch backwards away from the approaching horde.

Summer appraised her situation with a critical eye, thinking to herself. "With them bunched up like that I could use the propulsion rounds, and practically tear through them." Quickly detaching the empty ammo clip from her scythe she reached into her ammo pouch pulling out case marked with a rose petal that had two arrows going through its side. She aimed her scythe behind her preparing for the insane speed she would be traveling at, and fired. When she reached the horde she became a whirlwind of death, and rose petals, the limbs of the Grimm flew to, and fro as she cut into them. She finally came to a stop with her scythe held over her shoulder, with spent dust rounds scoured all around the clearing she found herself in, staring at the fading corpses of the Beowolves. Summer retracted her scythe back to its compact form before setting off towards the temple once more.

As she walked Summer's thoughts strayed to how the initiation was going to go. What would her participation mean for the team selection? Would the teams be altered, or would they stay the same, but with an extra member? She was snapped out her thoughts when she entered a familiar clearing. "huh?" Summer stared around the clearing, and then down at her legs. "Seriously legs first the tree at Beacon now here, I mean I guess this could be symbolic or something. I suppose this could represent that the end of one story is just the beginning of another." As Summer walked up to the tree that she, and Ruby had dubbed the tree of roses she felt a wave of melancholy overcome her. When she reached the tree she stretched out her hand, and placed it upon the tree "We had a lot of good times out here didn't we Ruby?" Summer struggled to hold back tears from falling down her face. "I miss you, and I made it to Beacon or well the initiation at least i'm still going through it, don't worry Ruby i'll make you proud, and i'll do my best no matter how hard it is to keep it up. Like you always said right keep moving forward. Now that I look at it, it seems like a lot of people had that saying huh? Well I have to go, and finish initiation I just had to say goo-" Summer cut herself off before she could say the one word she had dreaded to say for the past three days. "I just had had to say see you later." With that Summer turned away from the tree with the tears she had valiantly tried to hold back falling down her face as she strode towards the temple.

…

As Summer walked out of the tree line she was met with a very large clearing that contained the temple at the far end of it. From where she was she could see two figures one dressed in black, and one with an impressive mane of blonde hair. Upon seeing this Summer slammed the her palm into her forehead "You have got to be kidding me the time I get here is when Yang's already here, now she's definitely going to bother me with whatever she wants to bother me about!" Summer whispered shouted to herself in exasperation as to not draw attention to herself. when she was only twenty yards or so the black haired girl turned her gaze to Summer. Upon seeing this Summer raised up her hand, and sending a lazy wave in their direction, when she was about to grab one of the random chess pieces a knight to be exact. She was halted by a faint buzzing sound that seemed to originate above her, looking up Summer could see a black, and red figure falling from the sky slowly revealing itself to be. "Ruby!" Summer mentally shouted. As she grew closer to the ground another figure slammed into her side sending both of them rocketing into the tree.

At this Summer could not stop herself from bursting into laughter despite the stares she was receiving from black, and blonde duo. She cut herself off when the orange haired girl rode out of the treeline on an Ursa. "Wha?" Summer almost couldn't believe herself people falling from the sky, people riding in on Ursa what's next someone's going to be chased by a Deathstalker. As if the universe was taunting her a crimson, and gold blur ran out of the forest with a Deathstalker hot on her tail.

Before she could even comprehend it the white haired girl fell from the sky in a similar way Ruby had, except this time the figure one Jaune Arc was jumping heroically save the falling damsel. Summer could only watch in wonder at the way he caught her. "Doesn't he know he is going to painfully belly flop when gravity goes to introduce itself." Summer whispered to herself, but she could see the black haired girl snicker at what she had said. Summer tapped her chin in thought that's a pretty long range of hearing a little bit beyond human range, and she had whispered it so either the girl's Semblance is enhanced hearing or the girl is part Faunus. Summer shrugged either way she didn't care the girl could half Grimm for all she cared. As long as she had an ally to fight against the darkness that is Grimm.

While she was looking at the black haired girl she missed Ruby run off towards the Deathstalker alone. Summer gritted her teeth in anxiety, doesn't she know that the Deathstalkers armor is to thick for her scythe to cut through right now. In a manner of seconds after Ruby's "Tactical retreat" her cloak was pinned to the ground by a feather the Nevermore that Ruby, and the white haired girl apparently rode in on. Without a second thought Summer unfurled her scythe, and launched herself towards the Deathstalker with the aid of the remaining propulsion rounds in her clip hoping to block its stinger with her scythe. Just as her scythe made contact with the stinger a wall of ice appeared, and stopped the stinger in its tracks. Turning her head towards Ruby she opened her mouth to ask if she was okay, but was cut off by the white haired girl. "Both of you are like children." Ruby tried to interrupt her by saying her name, but the girl was unfazed, Summer could only mentally jump in joy now that she had a name for the white haired girl. Who was the younger version of Weiss who Summer recognized as the current CEO of the Schnee Dust Company. "You are both dimwitted, and hyperactive, did you think that you could block that stinger by yourself, and not get hurt?" Summer reeled back in surprise thinking what did she do all she tried to do was help someone. What do you mean by hyperactive she hadn't even talked to her before, she then turned her attention solely on Ruby. "And Ruby I know I can be a bit… Difficult, but if we are going to get through this then we will have to work together. so if you stop trying to impress everyone then i'll be… Nicer than I have been in the past."

Summer turned, and walked back towards the temple, thinking that this was a moment that was meant to be between partners. She was halted in her small journey when she was yanked back with surprising force by the hood of her cloak. "Whoa there short stuff where do you think your going?" Summer could only hang her head at unmistakable sound of Ruby's sister Yang's voice. "I'm not letting you go off without thanking you for helping save my sister, but uh when we have more time there are some questions I want to ask you."

Summer sheepishly rubbed the back of her head. "Okay n-no problem I was j-just helping out someone in need." She assumed that her answer was good enough for Yang as she felt her hood get released causing her to stumble away from Yang as her momentum was redirected. Righting herself Summer continued her walk back towards the temple. "That was a close one, I can't say i'll be lucky like that in the future though. What will I say? What questions will she have? What if I have to lie, Ruby always said I was a terrible liar, and Ozpin even said that I was bad at lying as well." She was torn out of her internal strife when she saw the others run up a hill in the direction of the cliff. She started to run after them wondering how Ruby, Yang, and the white haired girl Weiss got ahead of her. Nevertheless she started to sprint after them with a faint feeling that she had forgotten something lingering in the back of her mind.

…..

A faint whistling sound was Summer's only warning before she dove to cover behind one of the lone standing pillars. She turned her head after landing to see a cluster of large feathers embedded in the ground where she had once stood. A faint vision of her being impaled by the feathers flashed through her mind before she shook her head to rid herself of the disturbing vision. She looked out behind her cover to see her companions begin to run across the stone bridge that lead them back to the cliffs. "H-hey wait up!" Summer called out uselessly as she ran towards them, she was only spurred to run faster as she heard the trees behind her collapse to the ground signaling her that the Deathstalker had finally made an appearance. When she made it to the edge of the bridge she came to a stop with some of the others who had stayed to hold off the approaching Deathstalker. "S-so does anyone have a plan, or are we just going to wing it?" Summer asked out loud more to herself than the others. "I mean we could cut off its…" She was cut off by the Deathstalkers stinger embedding itself in the ground close to her.

"Forget about that just run!" Jaune yelled out in obvious fear of the situation. As the others turned to run, Summer turned as well, and saw the Nevermore flying towards the bridge.

Only stopping for the briefest of moments Summer called out "Guys wait up the nevermore is about to ram into th….!" She was cut off when she felt something slam into her back rocketing her into the air, in her disoriented state she failed to recognize the giant feather approaching her before she collided with it sending her into the ravine wall. She could feel her scythe leave her grasp as she plummeted further into the ravine, as she fell she would catch glimpses of her scythe. Each time she did she would angle herself in a nose dive to speed herself up in order to catch it. "Come on, come on you did the same thing with something that was way smaller than a scythe you can do it again." Summer muttered to herself

When Summer was only an arm's length away from the scythe she could see a faint outline of the ravine floor. "Four inches! Two inches! Gotcha!" Summer yelled out in pure joy before it was cut off by the reality of the situation she was in, and quickly unfurled her scythe latching onto it like she had done early for her landing strategy. She fired at the ground, and popped up a few feet in the air before repeating the process, and ending in a roll on shaky legs. "Okay this is uncharted territory Summer you have never been here before, and Ruby never told you what was down here. So no need to freak out just remain calm." Summer said quietly to reassure herself, she stretched out her hand only seeing a faint outline of it in the fog. "Oh who am I kidding I can barely see three feet in front of me, and I don't even know what's down here, let alone on a way to get out of here." Summer reached up, and slapped herself across the face faintly wondering if she has gone insane now that she is talking to herself. "Alright calm down Summer you can do this just calm yourself, and think of a plan the only options so far are to climb up the ravine or to keep walking, and see if there is a way up." With these mediocre plans in mind Summer quickly set off in a random direction in hopes of finding a way out.

As she walked Summer could feel her unease grow as a flash of red appeared off to her left before fading away as quickly as it had come. The feeling of unease steadily began to grow worse as she felt prying eyes upon her, but she could not pinpoint where the feeling was coming from. The only way she could describe what she was feeling was that she was treading upon the grounds of something ancient, and it was not pleased at her trespassing, a malevolent feeling began to flow through the air causing Summer to halt in her tracks. "What could possibly be down here that could warrant a feeling like this, this place just seems... I don't know evil" That was the only thought that Summer could think to describe the atmosphere of the ravine floor. Something dark resided here this Summer could tell, but is it Grimm? This place did not contain the fell intent of wrath, and destruction like the lairs of Grimm usually contained. No this place had an aura that more dark, and primal than any Grimm nest could have ever hoped to achieve. Whatever was down here with her felt almost primordial it had claimed this land as its hunting grounds long ago, and Summer had just become its prey.

Summer felt chills crawl down her spine as she heard the sound of soft footsteps behind her she whirled around trying to catch her pursuer, but all she could see was the endless fog in front of her. "Okay Summer you're fine it was nothing just your mind playing tricks on you." Despite telling herself this Summer clutched her scythe closer to her as if it was her lifeline. The malevolent air began to press in, slowly suffocating her. If she strained her ears she could hear a faint guttural snarl, but there was something else it sounded like there was also chanting rising, and falling in tempo. As the words became more audible she could only shiver in a deep ingrained primal fear. "Alhazred gyeth, gyeth." The words reverberated through her head, through her very being. Was she going insane? Was this not fog, but something else that played with your mind like a child's toy? Or is she being subjugated to the mind games of a predator toying with its prey?

The chanting, and the sound of footsteps only intensified, the air continued to press in slowly choking the will to fight back out of her being. Summer could only delve into the recesses of her mind to find one of the things she cherished most, and one of the things that she would defend with her life. The memory of when she had been taken under Ruby's wing played through her mind. The feeling of awe when she had appeared, the awesomeness of her scythe, and more importantly Summer's hero, her role model. With this Summer slammed the blade of her scythe in the ground, and straightened up her posture, her head held high. "I will not allow you to play with my mind any longer! If you think I am going to be your next prey then you can forget it! My name is Summer Rose, and I am a huntress in training, and I will not bow down in fear to you!" Summer declared. She knew it wasn't a smart thing to do, but whatever was stalking her already knew where she was it was waiting, waiting for her to succumb to its sick mind game, a game that she intended to win.

Summer stared ahead of her into the endless sea of fog, but jumped in fright when a small figure appeared in front of her. The creature in front of her didn't look like a creature of Grimm, no like the overwhelming feeling around her it seemed more primordial more… ancient. It stared at her with its head tilted, its small beady eyes seemed to peer into her soul. Summer could only stare in shock at the creature as it seemed to change in front of her its arm, and leg length altering to fit its new form. When its strange transformation had finished Summer found herself staring back at a more corrupted version of herself. The eyes were the creatures small red beady eyes, and not the silver that she would normally see in a reflection. Her hair had switched, the black replacing the red tips, and the red replacing the black. Instead of her usual hesitant look, the look the corrupted figure gave was cocky, and arrogant. At this sudden change Summer could only narrow her eyes, and take a few steps back to place some distance away from the creature.

The creature continued to stare at her before it spoke, its words sounded as if they were being spoken by two individuals. One sounded like the sweetest of honey the other sounded like rocks grating together deep, and guttural. "This prey is different, different from the rest, this one rises to challenge us. Curious what makes you different little bug?" Its eyes studied her, broke her down piece by piece with its gaze, and examined the many weaknesses, and faults that cluttered her being. "You are perplexing little prey, a riddle we must solve. You show fear yet you don't, very perplexing." Despite the creature staring at her Summer could feel the air shift around her becoming thicker harder to breath the creature had only been observing her. Now Summer could feel the creature's oppressive aura slowly sap the will to fight from her being,as she valiantly fought against her own mind. As the creature fully leveled its gaze upon her. "Tell me little bug what makes you special? What makes you think that you could defy me? You are only a bug caught in my grand web, what makes you think that you will survive? You are no predator you are just a weak prey for us to toy with. So what is running through your mind that makes you believe that you will survive little prey?"

Fear that was the only feeling coursing through her veins, this creature ancient, primordial. It knew that it would win this game that it had oh so carefully crafted. Despite the crushing feeling of fear Summer continued to stand tall, and stare the creature down with narrowed eyes. She would defeat the creature at its own stupid mind game, and she would make it back to Beacon, and she will stop what happened to the future no matter what. "You have the advantage when one of your prey fall into the ravine why toy with them? Why play these mind games they are trivial compared to catching your prey without a fuss? Why stalk your prey in the shadows like a coward you own these grounds why skulk in the shadows? Unless you are a coward fearful that something stronger will usurp you of your control over these grounds. So you wear them down by mentally torturing them slowly destroying your preys resolve to fight." Summer declared confidently, she couldn't show fear, couldn't show weakness if she was to keep this creature interested in her long enough to find a way to defeat it or escape.

The creature seemed to take a small step back after her declaration "The little bug speaks back to us, interesting very interesting. Tell me little bug what makes you special? What makes you different from the other prey? Why do you not cower? Why do you not break, have we failed to shatter the will to fight in your soul? How do you stay in our presence when others would fail to do so? What makes you special little bug, what spurs you to survive even while cornered by your predator? You are a riddle that we have not come across before, and we must solve it." The creature's gaze increased tenfold ripping into her being piece by piece trying to peer into her soul as if it contained the answers to its riddle.

"I don't need to show fear in front of a predator that is too cowardly to face me directly without resorting to twisted games. The heroes who protect the innocent, and those who can't protect themselves do not show fear when they face their challenges, and neither will I. After all you have turned into me I do not need to fear myself." Summer looked on triumphantly as the creatures eyes furrowed in anger, and what it seemed to her disbelief. She just needed to keep up her facade of confidence a little bit longer, and she will have won this game.

"You insolent little bug, you dare talk to your betters with such disrespect. Yet you do this without fear truly you were destined to play this game of mine. A game that you were destined to lose for we believe that this game is nearly finished, you truly are a unique prey one we may never see again. Yes most definitely we will most definitely never see a prey such as the likes of you," the creature tapped its chin in thought. "Though the world is ever changing, maybe you were a catalyst for a new group of unique prey." Summer took the brief moment of the creature's lack of focus as an opportunity to hit it with an overhead slice of her scythe. She had expected to cleave right through the creature, but she was sorely mistaken all she had managed to do was have the scythe bounce off of the creature. To her it felt like she had just struck a solid building with her scythe like it was in rifle form instead of its extended form. Her arms jolted in pain as she jumped away from the creature, eyeing it warily.

"Interesting you are the first prey to attack little bug let us see how you fair against us." Summer almost couldn't comprehend the speed at which the creature ran at as its hand lashed out towards her the nails extended, and sharp almost as sharp as the blade of her scythe. She lifted the shaft of her scythe up as the creature's hand grew near. What she didn't expect was to be sent tumbling across the ground before landing on her back. She could only hear a faint whistling of wind before she rolled to her right to avoid an overhead kick that left a small crater in the ground.

"I can't take too many hits like that again my aura is already low from earlier, and if I take a hit like that my aura will most likely shatter" Summer muttered to herself before angling her scythe towards the creature, and firing a small onslaught of high impact rounds at it. It only served as a slight delay to the creature as it stumbled from the rounds that were able to connect with it. The rounds only seemed to anger the beast as it increased its speed, now imperceptible to Summer, despite her being used to fighting an opponent that relied on speed this speed was inhuman faster than even Ruby. She went to raise up her scythe to try, and deflect the blow, but she was to slow the creature's hand imbedded itself in Summer's abdomen while the other slashed at her face. Summer could feel her aura flare at the assault, and then burst once she had sustained enough damage. As quickly as the creature appeared in front of her it dropped her only to stare down at her mangled body.

"You were an interesting prey, but you were weak. Maybe in another lifetime of yours we will meet again, and the outcome will be different, but for now you are no longer interesting you are just a weak prey." With this the creature turned, and began to walk away its form slowly transforming back to its original figure. A figure that was pure black it's eyes small red, and beady the creature in its original form was small, but its face was one of a demon with teeth that seemed to be sharper than the finest of steel weapons. Summer couldn't tell if this was a very ancient Grimm maybe one of the first or if it was more ancient, more primordial, more evil than even the worst of Grimm. As she watched the creature walk away from her Summer tried to lift her body with all of her might, the only thing she could manage was a faint twitch of her finger.

"Come on Summer you can do this, get up Summer keep taking one step forward just like Ruby said no matter how hard it gets I just have to keep moving. Come on Summer you have a strong pair of legs so use them don't fail Ruby like this!" Summer practically shouted as her body slowly began to move as she regained control of it. When she was on her hands, and knees she reached out to grab her fallen scythe, and used it to raise her further up off of the ground. As she came to a standing position the only thing she could see of the creature was its faint image in the fog. Slowly she moved forward each painful step seemed to take a life time, her legs, no her entire body felt like lead. She didn't know how close to death she actually was, but she was sure that standing next to her was a spectral version of her mentor Ruby with her scythe angled behind her. Summer angled her scythe to match the spectre before looking at the ghost of her mentor, the spectre seemed to stare at her before imperceptibly nodding at her, a quirk of her mentor's that appeared when she was in her hunter mode as Ruby had dubbed it long ago.

With the silent signal Summer, and the spectre launched themselves at the creature. The world around her seemed to blur by her as she propelled herself towards her target, leaving her seriously confused her propulsion rounds had never let her travel this fast so why had she traveled so fast. She was cut off from her thoughts as she neared her target, Summer quickly twirled her scythe in a path similar to a crescent moon making, contact with the Creature's arm, and meeting a small resistance before her momentum continued to carry her. Carried aloft on the blade of the scythe was creature's arm she twirled her scythe behind her before embedding the the blade in the ground in order to halt her momentum. She twirled the scythe once more so that the shaft was on her shoulder, and the the head of the scythe facing the ground her knees slightly bent, and her head bowed. As she lifted her head she stared over at the creature in thinly veiled shock at what she had just done, along with a hint of pride that she had managed to cut off the creatures limb that had the density of the Beacon tower. The creature stared back at her anger, and shock playing across its face before a predatory smile replaced the looks of anger, and shock.

Once again the creature began to slowly morph into the corrupted version of her. "So the prey still has fight left, we knew that you were special, but we did not know that you would injure us. It has been many millennia since we have felt pain nevertheless pain as bad as this. So tell me little bug why do you continue to fight the inevitable, why do you still struggle to survive?" Summer stared at the creature gazing deep into its sanguine eyes as if to peer into its being.

"I struggle because I have people worth fighting for, a future to save from a horrible fate, and most importantly I fight so that others don't have to. So they can stay with their families never worrying about the ever present threat of the creatures of Grimm. I fight because when those that are jaded of the world need a hero I will step in, and show them the light why the world is still a good place to live in, why they should enjoy life. Should the need ever arise I will gladly sacrifice my life if it meant that I would be able to protect everyone from danger. That is why I continue to struggle because I am a huntress, and it is my dream, and duty to protect everyone from past to present to future." Summer felt a sense of pride as she relayed her speech to the figure.

"Interesting little bug, we believe our fight is over for now even a predator knows when a prey is to dangerous to pursue, but should we ever meet again we will not let you escape like you have done today." The creature turned to walk away before stopping "Let us pose you a question little bug. What is the nature of a hero? That has been a question we have heard posed over, and over again in the millennia we have lived in this world, and we have never found an answer. Maybe it is not in our nature maybe you little bug will solve what we hadn't solved in a millennia." The creature continued its journey into the fog.

"Wait!" Summer called out "Why did you have the sudden change of heart? You have wanted me to die since I have met you. So why? Why pose me with this question that I don't know the answer to? Why leave when you could easily kill me right now?!" Summer calls were answered by silence as the creatures silhouette faded into the fog.

As her adrenaline died down Summer could feel the constant throbs of pain that emanated from the cut on her face, and the small hole in her stomach where the creature had embedded its hand into placed a major part of her weight on her scythe as she leaned against it her legs shaking as her confident facade she had built up crumbled around her. "What am I going to do now the only option is to climb up the ravine." Summer sighed at this "It's either climb or die down here slowly Summer, you can do this I know you can you climbed Beacon tower, and that was way harder with fireballs, and parts of the tower collapsing right than it is going to be to climb the ravine wall right." Summer slowly hobbled over to the ravine wall slowly running one of her hands over the wall slowly feeling, and gazing at what she could see through the fog for handholds, and footholds. Eventually her hand ran over the perfect groove in the ravine for her to begin her ascent.

Handhold after handhold foothold after foothold, the order went on for what seemed like an eternity for Summer she still continued to climb the rocks having already ripped the skin of her hands blood flowing freely. She would have to be more careful as she climbed she wouldn't want to end up back where she started, and with her aura out of commision at the moment she most likely would not be getting back up. Minutes turned to hours, hours into eternity, Summer's limbs burned from exertion her wounds she had accumulated throbbed, and stung painfully, but she continued to push herself harder, and to climb faster. She was rewarded by finally exiting the fog layer, and finally being able to see the edge of the ravine. Handhold after handhold was grabbed as she approached the lip of the ravine wall, eventually she pulled herself over the the side, and lay flat on her back utterly exhausted staring up into the sky. She didn't know how long she was down in the ravine, but the the sun was already starting to dip behind the horizon. This probably meant that she had failed initiation, and would need to find another source of information for Ruby's cryptic instructions.

Summer shakily stood to her feet, and hobbled over to the cliff face deciding not to delay any longer lest she be left without sun light. She was able to easily find a nice groove to use as a handhold without the hindrance of the fog obstructing her vision. One after another inch by inch Summer slowly made her way up the side of the cliff her injuries hurt worse than before obviously aggravated by her need to climb to safety. She had made it about halfway up the side of the cliff before tragedy struck in her desperate need to get to Beacon Summer was failing to check if her handholds were stable. The latest handhold she had reached out for was flimsy, and it crumbled from the pressure her hand had placed upon it with blood covering her other hand she had slipped right off. She free fell for about twenty feet before she was able catch a hold of a groove in the cliff face the rocks digging into her hand inducing more blood to flow from the open wounds on her hands. Once she had evened out her racing heart, and found the proper handholds, and footholds she resumed her climb.

The feeling of time dragging on into eternity resumed as she climbed up the cliff face again. Inch by inch she made her way up the cliff side, handhold after handhold with each subsequent pull a small flow of blood would leak out her hand as she climbed soaking the stone as she left. She was almost there she could practically grasp the edge of the cliff just a few more feet, and she would be able to bask in the waning light of the sun. Her hand grasped at the soft grass as she pulled herself over the edge of the cliff, as she had done after she had climbed the ravine wall. She fell onto her back, and stared up at the sky letting out a soft laugh at the pure joy of finally being in a relatively safe place.

To Summer it felt like years had passed by while she had been in the ravine, but in reality it had only been a couple of hours. She had a vague feeling of deja vu from this morning as she stumbled across the grounds of Beacon looking like the living dead. "I wonder if this is going to be a theme for this year?" Summer muttered to herself tiredly only now realizing the vast amount of coffee she had drank earlier in the morning had worn off hours ago leaving her back where she had started the previous night, but only worse much worse. She slowly stumbled into the initiation hall hoping that they did the same thing as Ruby, and handle the formation of teams at night after the students had gotten time to rest, and know their partner. Her doubts were proven false as a team called Cardinal was being introduced at least she had made it semi on time right. Several students, and faculty turned to face the door as it had abruptly opened before turning into looks of shock at her appearance. "S-sorry i'm late I kind of had an accident during the initiation, and ended up t-trapped in place I really didn't want to be." Summer explained sheepishly as she rubbed the back of one of her hands on her neck.

"Ah nice of you to join us would you care to join your fellow first year students on the side of the stage." She heard Ozpin announce spotting her from his vantage point on the stage. Summer could only stare in shock for a brief moment before she started walking towards her fellow first years. As she walked by the upperclass students she could see looks of shock, and concern flash across their faces at the sight of her injuries. She finally arrived at the lineup of first years, and ended up standing next to the black haired girl with the bow she had yet to get the name of. As she heard Ozpin call out what chess piece the current group Jaune's group to be exact had acquired during the initiation made Summer realize. She had never collected a chess piece when they were at the temple she had abandoned it in favor of saving Ruby. So why was she in the lineup of successful first years instead of the group that was in the back of the room she had failed to collect a relic so doesn't she fail the initiation.

Summer was interrupted from her thoughts when she heard her name be called in conjunction with Ruby, and her sister Yang. While the others walked with pride Summer walked to the stage hesitantly fully aware of all the stares she was receiving from the other students. Looks of shock from the rest of the upperclassman that hadn't seen her, and looks of jealousy from the first years that had failed. She ignored the stares as Ozpin began to address them"The four of you have all retrieved the white knight pieces,but with the unique circumstance of young Summer here the first year count was uneven thus leading to the creation of a five person team. From this day forward the five of you will work together, and be known as team RWBY'S. Lead by Ruby Rose." Summer could only smile before a realization dawned on her this wasn't supposed to happen, she wasn't supposed to be on the team. As soon as they walked off the stage Summer bolted away from them no doubt leaving them confused. She continued to run until her injuries wouldn't allow her to any longer, she found herself standing under the very tree she had found herself under twice in the past twenty four hours. Slowly she slumped down against the trunk of the tree shaking her head to clear her mind.

"This isn't supposed to happen i'm not supposed to be on this team i'm messing up the future, and I am messing it up badly." Summer muttered to herself, wondering if she could ask Ozpin for a team transfer, but being the student of the headmistress in her real time era she knows that will be a definite no. The teams formed at Beacon were to remain for the full four years, before they can disband, and take solo missions. Or join hunter squads that go out into remote areas, and clear out Grimm for possible future settlers or to keep Grimm from approaching towns. She heard footsteps approaching her , and looked up to see her new team walking towards all with various looks of concern or a slightly less disgusted look in Weiss' case.

"Heyya there Summer was it?" Yang was the unofficial spokesperson as she went up to talk to her, in confirmation of Yang's question Summer slowly nods her head. "Are you feeling alright you look like you're really stressed out, and nervous about something. You also look seriously hurt like we should bring you to the infirmary asap to get you checked." Concern laced itself across her face, worry was evident in her voice.

"S-sorry i'm just really tired right now, and I r-really hurt right now I-i think that the infirmary is a good idea." Summer felt herself be picked gently by Yang.

"I think it's better that I carry you instead of you walking you look like you haven't gotten any sleep in the past couple of days, and I don't want you to collapse on us mid step right." Yang said comfortingly.

"Thank you." Summer told Yang to all of them really for caring enough to check on her. As her eyes started to become heavy Summer believed that Yang was right she would have collapsed if she kept walking on her own. Finally her eyes closed completely, and she drifted off into a peaceful sleep.

…

Summer stared over at the city of Vale as the sun began to set off in the horizon. She was sitting next to her team a black haired girl with red eyes, and red, and black uniform. Sitting on the other side of her were two boys one with blonde hair wearing a beige shirt, and ther with black hair wearing a grey dress shirt, and an old tattered cloak. To Summer the boy probably had the best fashion sense out of her other teammates they just didn't understand the uses of a cloak. As her, and her team basked in the waning light she could only admire the time they had left before classes the next day. Two fourths of team STRQ more specifically the boys were most likely going to cause problems for the teachers like they had done for the past couple of months. While she, and Raven would take notes for the boys as they slacked off. All in all she would feel bad for what would be coming for her team after they graduated from Beacon. As the sun reached its final minutes in the sky before it was replaced by the shattered moon Summer closed her eyes letting the last dregs of warmth from the sun wash over a the cool breeze ruffled her cloak.

…..

Summer snapped her eyes open as she shot up in bed, wondering to herself just what was that dream, and what did it mean, and what would it entail of her future.

...

 **A/N: Sorry everyone for the delay many things kept on getting in the way of this chapter last week, and I was only able to write a little bit each day, but this chapter is longer than the other chapters so I guess it good enough to make up for the wait. So what did you guys think of that creature in the ravine, creature of Grimm, ancient eldritch horror. Honestly even I don't know where it came from or what it is yet** it **just kind of showed up after I looked at something about HP Lovecraft so maybe that was some unconscious inspiration.**


	5. Chapter 5 sneak peak

The courtyard was full of ghosts breathing softly, and silently beneath the shattered moon. One moved across the courtyard restlessly, watching the others through the distant lens of time. As the ghosts walked, and mimed conversations amongst themselves. The lone ghost walked swiftly and silently as memories of a less chaotic, and more peaceful time played across the courtyard. The ghost saw the first time she had ever stepped foot on Beacons grounds looking at the massive tower, and large courtyard in awe. Her new mentor looking at her in amusement before guiding her across the courtyard. As the ghost continued to walk across the courtyard the scene began to shift and morph before her eyes.

There she stood a younger version of the ghost her back almost touching the wall of Beacon tower. Her scythe in rifle form aiming down the sights towards a lone bottle that stood vigilant about seventy meters from the airship docks students crowding around her, and standing near the bottle. It was the day she had broken her mentor's record that she had set during her fourth year at Beacon despite it being so trivial it was one of her proudest, and happiest memories. Standing off to the side of her, and the students stood her mentor with a sullen look across her face still distraught with the news of her uncle's passing. To this day the ghost would never claim she was trying to break the record she would always say that she was trying to test out the rifle function of the scythe that she had finished creating not three weeks before. She subtly adjusted for the wind mentally calculating where she would need to shoot in order to hit the bottle slowly squeezing the trigger letting the bullet fly. The shot rang out for what seemed like an eternity to the ghost before being replaced by the sound of shattering glass, and the exclamations of shock, and surprise. Though none of this pleased her more than the large beamng smile that had covered her mentor's face replacing the sad look the ghost had hated seeing on her face.

A small sad smile crossed the ghosts face before she continued walking slowly the scene shifted once again this time replacing the the courtyard with a scene the ghost had never seen before. It was her, but with a group of people she had never seen before in her life except maybe the black haired boy with the tattered cloak. Sitting on her right next to a blonde haired boy on her left was a raven haired girl this was the same scene she had seen in her dream, and it confused her to no end. When did she sit with these people, and since when had she known the younger version of her mentor's uncle or did that thing in the ravine do something to her? Did it give her the memories of an older look alike or is it trying to tell her something? The ghost shook her head as the vision dissipated before the path she was walking eventually gave way to the wide walls of the dorms.

 **Sorry everyone for not posting in some time I have been sidetracked with a great deal of things I am giving this sneak peak to let you guys know that I am not giving up on this story though uploads will be varied because I am going to possibly be juggling this with another story if I get around to ironing out its plot.**


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